John Oaksey facts for kids

John Geoffrey Tristram Lawrence, also known as John Oaksey, was a famous British horse racing journalist, TV commentator, and former amateur jockey. He was born on March 21, 1929, and passed away on September 5, 2012, at 83 years old. He was twice named the British Champion Amateur Jump Jockey.

After his riding career, he became a well-known personality in horse racing. He was admired for his writing and broadcasting. He also did a lot of good work for charity, especially helping to start the Injured Jockeys Fund. Many people called him one of the most important figures in modern racing.

Early Life and Education

The quadrangle at Eton College, where John Oaksey went to school.

John Oaksey was the son of a famous judge, Geoffrey Lawrence, 1st Baron Oaksey. He preferred to be called Oaksey, which was a family title. In his early broadcasting career, he was known as John Lawrence. He started using the name John Oaksey after his father passed away in 1971. The Oaksey family home is in a place called Oaksey in Wiltshire, England.

He went to Eton College, a well-known school, where he was the captain of the boxing team. When he was 16, he spent a summer at the Nuremberg trials. These were important trials where his father was working. His family's notes from this time are now kept at the National Justice Museum.

After school, he joined the military for a short time. Then he went to Oxford University to study important subjects like Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. He later studied law at Yale University in the United States. It seemed like he would follow his father into a career in law.

His Life as a Jockey

John Oaksey learned to ride horses on an old pony named Mince Pie. He even wrote a book about it called Mince Pie For Starters. A photo of him falling off Mince Pie in 1935 was even on the front page of a newspaper! He started riding in races called point-to-points in 1950. His first win came the next year on a horse named Next of Kin.

His first big win in a professional race was on Pyrene in 1956 at Sandown Park. He also won the 1958 Imperial Cup there on Flaming East.

The horse he was most famous for riding was Taxidermist. With Taxidermist, he finished second in the Kim Muir Chase. He also beat a very famous horse named Mandarin in the 1958 Whitbread Gold Cup. Later that year, he had an amazing win in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Cheltenham. He passed four horses after the last fence to win by a tiny bit!

He also won several races at the famous Cheltenham Festival. These included the 1959 National Hunt Chase on Sabaria. He won the Kim Muir again in 1966 on Jimmy Scot and in 1971 on Black Baize. His last win at Cheltenham was in 1973 on Bullocks Horn in the Foxhunters' Chase.

In 1963, he came very close to winning the famous Grand National race. He was riding Carrickbeg and was beaten by less than a length. He rode in the Grand National eleven times in total. In one race, he fell off his horse and was knocked out. But he still made sure to send his story to the Sunday Telegraph newspaper before going to the hospital.

He retired from racing in 1975 after getting hurt in a fall. As a jockey, he won 200 races. He was the Champion Amateur Jump Jockey in 1957–58 and 1970–71. Even though he wasn't known as the most naturally gifted rider, he worked very hard.

His connection to the Hennessy Gold Cup continued in 2011. A horse he bred and partly owned, Carruthers, won the race. This was a very special moment because John Oaksey was seriously ill at the time.

Talking About Races

John Oaksey started his career in broadcasting while he was still riding. The BBC asked him to talk about the Grand National course from a helicopter before his race on Carrickbeg. He then got regular TV work with Pay-TV, an early pay-per-view channel.

In 1969, he joined ITV's World of Sport. He was often seen and heard on racing shows like The ITV Seven and later Channel 4 Racing. He was often called "My Noble Lord" by another commentator, John McCririck. In the 1980s, he also worked on BBC Radio. He famously covered Bob Champion's amazing win in the 1981 Grand National. Oaksey said it was like something out of a storybook. He stopped regular broadcasting at the end of 1999.

Writing About Races

To be an amateur jockey, John Oaksey needed another job. So, he became a journalist. He wrote for the Daily Telegraph newspaper for over 30 years as their racing expert, using the name "Marlborough". He also wrote for the Sunday Telegraph and was a columnist for Horse & Hound magazine.

His most famous piece of writing was about the 1963 Grand National race, which he rode in on Carrickbeg. He described the end of the race like this:

Round the last elbow into the straight … the final dregs of stamina are draining fast for horse and man alike. A hundred yards to go and then Ayala’s head appeared like Nemesis at my knee.

Another racing journalist, Brough Scott, called it "the greatest single piece of first-person big sporting event narrative in the English language." His dedication to writing was legendary. One editor said Oaksey would finish a tough ride and then immediately write a thousand words.

He also wrote about Fred Winter's win in the 1962 Grand Steeplechase de Paris. He wrote a book about the famous horse Mill Reef and a film script.

Helping Injured Jockeys

John Oaksey's most important contribution to horse racing was helping to create the Injured Jockeys Fund (IJF). This charity started in 1964. It was created after two of Oaksey's fellow jockeys, Tim Brookshaw and Paddy Farrell, broke their backs in falls. The fund grew to help all jockeys in the sport.

Oaksey became the president and a key leader of the IJF. In 2004, he said that the IJF gave him "more pride than any of the other activities in my racing life." In 2009, a special retirement complex for injured jockeys in Lambourn was named Oaksey House in his honour. There is even a statue of him there.

Awards and Honours

Because of his work with the IJF, he was awarded the OBE in 1985. This is a special honour from the British Queen. He also received other awards, including Racing Journalist of the Year in 1968. In 2003, he got the Daily Telegraph Order of Merit. In 2008, he received the Peter O'Sullevan Award for Services to Racing. He was also made an honorary member of the Jockey Club in 2001.

After he passed away, two races were named in his honour. The 2013 National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival was named for him. He had won this race himself in 1959. In 2014, Sandown named a new race, the Oaksey Chase, after him.

Family Life

In 1959, John Oaksey married Victoria Dennistoun. Her father was a racehorse trainer. They had two children:

• Patrick John Tristram Lawrence, born in 1960.
• Sara Victoria Lawrence, born in 1961, who also became a jockey.

He later married "Chicky" Crocker in 1988.

In his later years, John Oaksey suffered from Alzheimer's disease. He passed away in September 2012 at the age of 83. He was remembered at special services held in Wiltshire and London, attended by important people like the Princess Royal.