Champion retired jockey John Letts joined SCA as a patron in 2000. He started riding in 1959 and retired in 1988, spanning a career of almost 30 years. John rode hundreds of winners, including 3 Adelaide Cups, an Epsom handicap, one Victorian Derby aboard Galena Boy and two Melbourne Cups, the first on Piping Lane in 1972 and the second on Belldale Ball in 1980.

In 1974 he had a fall that left him with a broken spine and the medical advice that he would never ride again. This is where his story has a strange twist. Unable to move his neck either way, sporting a neckbrace and with the physios unable to help him, John was at the races one day standing in the betting ring. A punter in a hurry was dashing through the betting ring and ran into John, knocking him over. Not long after that he was able to move his neck freely and was able to go back to riding. So what the doctors were unable to help him with was fixed by a punter in a hurry.

John now resides in Adelaide and does work for radio as well as some horse training. You can see John aboard Banjo talking to the winners during the Melbourne Cup Carnival. SCA appreciates John’s support as patron.

by Gary Allsop - Honorary Director