Jock Skilling

James (Jock) Fulton Skilling was born in the village of Annbank, in Ayrshire, Scotland, on September 29, 1937. He rode for 27 years and survived several setbacks before finally being forced to retire in 1983. 

He served a six-year apprenticeship with Malton trainer Ernie Davey and rode his first winner on El's First, owned and trained by Davey, in the Gainford Two-Year-Old Selling Plate at Catterick on May 23, 1956.

Jock was with Ernie Davey from 1953 until 1959, then moved to John Clark, who trained at Clydesdale House on Ayr’s seafront. After that he went to Gerry Laurence at Cree Lodge and when Laurence died he stayed on with his  successor, Harry Whiteman. 

He won three races on the popular sprinter Granville Greta in 1959. At the other end of the scale, he twice won Scotland’s longest race, the William The Lion Handicap at Lanark, but the nearest he got to winning the historic Lanark Silver Bell was the year Johnny Seagrave beat him a short head.

Jock married Doreen Mary Sheffield on July 9, 1960. They had two daughters, Lorraine and Jaqueline.

He joined Mick Easterby’s Sheriff Hutton stable in the late 1960’s and was with him for 12 years. He won three times on Boismoss in 1967 but was unable to do the weight when he won the Cesarewitch as a three-year-old, the mount going to Ernie Johnson. 

Other good horses he rode for Easterby included the useful two-year-olds Goldwyn, on whom Jock won a Catterick maiden in May 1969, and Workboy, on whom he landed a Beverley maiden in May 1971. Trainer Harry Bell provided him with some good times too, notably Night Patrol, a decent handicapper who provided Jock with three wins in the early 1970s. 

It was while at Sheriff Hutton that he sat on the best horse he ever rode, the fine sprinter Lochnager. He only rode Lochnager once in public, when finishing down the field in a six-furlong handicap at York in May 1975, the first start of the horse’s three-year-old career. 

He enjoyed his most successful season in 1969 with 15 winners but suffered his fair share of injuries during his career. His worst was in a car crash in February 1965, in which he broke both legs and an arm and suffered internal injuries. He finally returned to the saddle in April 1966 and rode as well as ever before retiring in 1976.

He then began training, based at Whitewall Stables, Malton, achieving his first win as a trainer when Hemingway landed a handicap hurdle at Nottingham on March 22, 1977. He trained a total of 20 winners in three and a half years (1976-80) before relinquishing his licence and, though by then in his mid-40s, returned to riding in races. 

He rode his last winner on Warrenice Lad in a three-year-old seller at Pontefract on July 5, 1982. Twelve months later his career came to a crashing end, breaking his left leg when his mount Sweet Savage suffered a heart attack and fell at Newcastle on Monday, July 25, 1983. 

After spending five months in plaster, he was just starting to get around with the aid of a stick when he tripped and fell and reopened the original break. Told he would never be able to race-ride again, Jock announced his retirement, this time for good. 

Although unable to ride in races, he was a work rider for Jimmy FitzGerald in Malton for many years after quitting the saddle, continuing in that role until well into his 60s.

He lived at Holmlea, Park Grove, Malton where he ran a restaurant and clothes shop in the market place until a new by-pass resulted in trade drying up. He then ran a tobacconist’s shop in Malton. 

Although he never rode a big winner, Jock Skilling was a solid and dependable rider on the northern circuit. An excellent horseman, he was a much respected work rider. He nominated Ayr as his favourite racecourse. 

Jock Skilling died in December 2023, aged 86.