John Walker

John Walker

Article by Alan Trout

John Elphinstone Walker rode six winners as an amateur, turned professional in the summer of 1909, then added another six.  

Born in Newcastle in1885, he had his first win at Colwall Park on April 13, 1908, when riding one of his own horses, Jilted, to take the Ledbury Selling Hurdle, beating Wepener, the mount of leading amateur Norman Cuthbertson, by a head. 

Having ended his amateur career with a walkover, John made a good start in the professional ranks with three wins in 15 days on the selling chaser Prying Eyes, including on successive days at the October meeting at Monmouth.

However, there were only two wins in 1910, the second of those being John’s final success, on Apex in the Tintern Handicap Chase at Chepstow on April 5, 1910, beating Master Page, ridden by Bert Gordon, the previous year’s champion jump jockey, by three-quarters of a length. Jack Anthony then took over on Apex.

John’s final ride appears to have been on Boatswain, a faller in the Tradesmen’s Chase at Cardiff on Easter Monday, March 24, 1913. 

John Walker’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Jilted, Colwall Park, April 13, 1908

2. Jilted, Cardiff, April 20, 1908

3. Roman Fruit, Colwall Park, November 2, 1908

4. Jilted, Moreton-in-Marsh Hunt, April 15, 1909

5. Roman Fruit, Colwall Park, May 10, 1909

6. Aughnacloy, Newport, June 1, 1909 (walkover)

7. Prying Eyes, Newton Abbot, September 29, 1909

8. Prying Eyes, Monmouth, October 13, 1909

9. Prying Eyes, Monmouth, October 14, 1909

10. L’Abbe Royal, Pershore, November 4, 1909

11. L’Abbe Royal, Wolverhampton, January 10, 1910

12. Apex, Chepstow, April 5, 1910