Brent had the pleasure to speaking with the fabulous John Letts who won not one but TWO Melbourne cups, and overall 2300 winners, what years ask? He was immortalized by winning the Melbourne Cup on Piping Lane in 1972 and Beldale Ball in 1980.
Listen to the podcast here.
John Richard “Johnny” Letts (born 1943 in South Australia) is a former Australian jockey whose career spanned almost 30 years, retiring from race riding in 1988.
Letts began riding as an apprentice in 1959, aged 16 years old and eventually rode over 2,300 winners.
Apart from his Melbourne Cup successes he rode a host of big race winners including three SAJC Adelaide Cups on Rain Lover (1968), Grand Sale (1976) and Amarant (1983). He also had success in the 1977 AJC Epsom Handicap on Raffindale, the 1975 Victoria Derby on Galena Boy and the 1980 VRC Australian Cup on Ming Dynasty.
In recent years, Letts has been prominent as a mounted interviewer for 7 Sport’s TV coverage of major races in Australia, including the Melbourne Cup. Riding on the course on board his best mate Banjo, immediately after a race finishes, he uses a hand-held microphone to do live interviews with the winning jockey within seconds of the finish of the race. Visual coverage is from trackside cameras.
In Adelaide John Letts had the reputational nickname “The Punters Pal”.
In late 2014 Letts was given the all clear after a battle with cancer.
In April 2015, Letts lost his best friend Banjo, who died from colic aged 25. In March 2016 the Galaxy Stakes on Golden Slipper Day at Rosehill was renamed The Banjo Galaxy Stakes in honour of Letts’s old mate on the track.