Loading AI tools
Australian jockey (1921–2017) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Michael Purtell (1921 – 8 March 2017) was an Australian jockey who rode three Melbourne Cup winners.
John Michael Purtell | |
---|---|
Occupation | Jockey |
Born | 1921 |
Died | 8 March 2017 (aged 95) Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia |
Racing awards | |
Inductee to the Australian Racing Hall of Fame | |
Significant horses | |
|
Purtell, also known as 'Gentleman Jack’, rode his first race in 1936 at the age of 15.[1][2] He was an apprentice jockey to Ted Temby at his Mordialloc, Victoria stables. He won his first race on Bonus at Mentone, Victoria in April 1937.[3] Purtell rode more than 1700 winners including three Melbourne Cups. He was suspended only once.[4] The best horse he rode was Comic Court to 19 wins even though he opted not to ride it in the 1950 Melbourne Cup.[5][6][2] He won seven Melbourne Jockey Premierships – 1946/47, 1948/49, 1949/50, 1950/51, 1954/55, 1960/61 and 1961/62.[7] In January 1953, he suffered severe head injuries in a race fall at Caulfield Racecourse.[8][9]
Purtell rode Fighting Force when it triple dead-heated with both Pandie Sun and Ark Royal in the 1956 Hotham Handicap, a rare event in racing.[6][10]
He retired in 1966 at the age of 45 and he became a Stipendiary Steward at the Victorian Racing Club until March 1981.[11][2][6][4]
Purtell married in 1949 to Norma Giles and seven thousand people turned up to the church in Clifton Hill, Victoria.[12] He died on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland on 8 March 2017, aged 95.[5] Purtell and his wife had two children, Garry and Mark.[13]
He was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2004.[1] A sculpture of Purtell by John Frith is held by the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.[8]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.