Brian Stocks was born in 1947, the son of a Nottingham miner. He served his apprenticeship with Harry Thomson Jones at Newmarket and rode his first winner on Litigation in the Bilton Apprentice Plate at Warwick on October 17, 1964, one of just five rides he had that year.
Brian’s first ride of 1965 was a winner, Litigation again, in an apprentices’ race at Leicester on May 31. The following month he guided Gonzales to a neck victory over Jock Wilson’s mount And Again at Worcester to record his third success.
He was still only 17 when riding what was to be his last winner, on Uprising in the Wigan Sprint Stakes, a three-year-old handicap, at Haydock on September 18, 1965. He had a total of 17 mounts that season but then faded from the scene. Weight did not appear to have been an issue – he rode at 6st 10lb when winning on Uprising – but his career as a jockey was effectively over before his 18th birthday.
Brian Stocks’ winners were, in chronological order:
1. Litigation, Warwick, October 17, 1964
2. Litigation, Leicester, May 31, 1965
3. Gonzales, Worcester, June 26, 1965
4. Uprising, Haydock Park, September 18, 1965