Blast From The Past

John Gorton was apprenticed to Fred Rickaby in S.A. This was in written 1966 when Gorton spent a few months in the U.K.

Part of page 67 of The Spoilsports by Tim Fitzgeorge-Parker reads as follows

"the leading South African apprentice, twenty-year-old John Gorton, who in two months had demonstrated an old-fashioned knowledge of his job, brilliant style and a marked superiority to all his contemporaries except Sandy Barclay"

Leading Trainers 66/67

1. Laird. S.C......................................43..........................82,094
2. Rickaby. F.A.................................41..........................79,122
3. Azzie.G..........................................47..........................78,871
4. Bell. J.W........................................35..........................62,479
5. Ryan. T.G.....................................47...........................58,340
6. Benton. B.S...................................13...........................52,115
7. Amos. H.E.....................................48...........................51,180
8. Breval. J........................................51...........................50,838
9. Joseph. J.......................................27..........................44,964
10.Millard. T....................................40...........................42,809


Leading Jockeys

1. Cawcutt. H.C.J..............................103
2. Little. B.J......................................95
3. Turner. G.W.................................79
4. Amos. S.I......................................76
5. Maree. C.J.....................................66
6. Rhodes. R.l...................................62
7. Gorton. J.J...................................60
8. Hawken. M.C.L.............................56
9. Barends. C.T.................................54
10.*Schoeman. M.F..........................49