John Crouch (jockey)

John Lionel Crouch was a British racing jockey who was also known as Jack Crouch.

His parents were Walter Thomas Crouch (1877- 1959) and Blanche (nee Phillips, 1880-1922),[1] and he was born in 1915 when the family resided in Deptford, part of the Greenwich area of London.[1] In April 1939, Crouch was engaged to Barbara Hives.[2]

He served his apprenticeship at the yard of Stanley Wooton in Epsom.[3] By 1933, he was successfully competing and accumulated 31 wins by 1936.[3] During October that year it was reported he was to be retained as the king's jockey[3] after Joe Childs retired.[4]

In the 1937 Epsom Derby he piloted the horse, Sandsprite, bred by Florence Nagle[5] at odds of 100–1, to second place behind Mid-day Sun, owned by Mrs Lettice Miller, the first woman owner ever to win the Derby.[6][7][8]

Crouch died when the de Havilland Dragon Rapide light aircraft he was a passenger in crashed on 20 June 1939.[3] The aircraft had been travelling from Heston to Gosforth Park where Crouch was due to ride the king's horse Mouzelle in the Seaton Delaval Stakes; the horse was withdrawn as a mark of respect.[9]