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John “Kipper” Lynch died on Wednesday, 13 May 2026, aged 89.
John (Kipper) Lynch was so nicknamed because he 'walked like a fish'.
He was born on November 2, 1939, and lived at 'The Lynches', Orchard Gardens, Wantage.
Born in Bexhill and brought up in the Old Kent Road, he served a seven-year apprenticeship with Sam Armstrong and won on his first-ever ride, Torque, at Brighton, June 11, 1956.
The next year he won the Great Metropolitan Handicap on Gay Ballard (fellow Armstrong apprentice Josh Gifford was second).
The best horse he rode was undoubtedly Tromos which he rode to an all-the-way victory in the Dewhurst to become his only Group winner.
He was retained by Bruce Hobbs in 1979, but Tromos failed to train on. He still managed good wins on Vielle and Tyranos and, numerically, enjoyed his best season with 65 wins.
At the Curragh, on Saturday, July 16, 1977 - 21 years after riding his first winner - Lynch scored his only European classic race victory when riding Olwyn to a start-to-finish surprise win in the Irish Guinness Oaks. Lynch had walked the full mile and a half course before the race in a reconnaissance exercise. Olwyn, a daughter of Derby winner Relko, was owned in partnership by Mr Souren Vanian, an African, and Mr P. J. Stokes, an American. The horse was trained at Newmarket by Ron Boss who, prior to the race, had never set foot in Ireland.
In 1980, Lynch became Clive Brittain's first jockey, winning on the splendid Foveros but, on Tuesday, June 10 that year, was involved in a three-car crash 13 miles from Newmarket. It took firemen 40 minutes to free him from his Mercedes. He was returning to Newmarket after the wedding in London of Elly Lemos, the main patron of the Clive Brittain stable.
He was in intensive care with head and leg injuries and, attending Headley Court Hospital, he made such good, steady progress that he began entertaining ideas of riding again.
But it was not to be. Nine months after the crash, he was told to retire by his doctors.
Lynch said at the time; "Although I made a superb recovery, you have to be 100% fit to think of race-riding. As I have lost some field of vision, I will never attain physical fitness to that standard."
Kipper Lynch married Carol Frances Parsons on March 17, 1962. She gave him two sons; Vincent Paul and Martin John, who became a jockey and won the 1985 William Hill Trophy on Si Signor, the 9/4 favourite.
Kipper enjoyed a round of golf and flying kites. He was also a competent violin player.
John (Kipper) Lynch was so nicknamed because he 'walked like a fish'.
He was born on November 2, 1939, and lived at 'The Lynches', Orchard Gardens, Wantage.
Born in Bexhill and brought up in the Old Kent Road, he served a seven-year apprenticeship with Sam Armstrong and won on his first-ever ride, Torque, at Brighton, June 11, 1956.
The next year he won the Great Metropolitan Handicap on Gay Ballard (fellow Armstrong apprentice Josh Gifford was second).
The best horse he rode was undoubtedly Tromos which he rode to an all-the-way victory in the Dewhurst to become his only Group winner.
He was retained by Bruce Hobbs in 1979, but Tromos failed to train on. He still managed good wins on Vielle and Tyranos and, numerically, enjoyed his best season with 65 wins.
At the Curragh, on Saturday, July 16, 1977 - 21 years after riding his first winner - Lynch scored his only European classic race victory when riding Olwyn to a start-to-finish surprise win in the Irish Guinness Oaks. Lynch had walked the full mile and a half course before the race in a reconnaissance exercise. Olwyn, a daughter of Derby winner Relko, was owned in partnership by Mr Souren Vanian, an African, and Mr P. J. Stokes, an American. The horse was trained at Newmarket by Ron Boss who, prior to the race, had never set foot in Ireland.
In 1980, Lynch became Clive Brittain's first jockey, winning on the splendid Foveros but, on Tuesday, June 10 that year, was involved in a three-car crash 13 miles from Newmarket. It took firemen 40 minutes to free him from his Mercedes. He was returning to Newmarket after the wedding in London of Elly Lemos, the main patron of the Clive Brittain stable.
He was in intensive care with head and leg injuries and, attending Headley Court Hospital, he made such good, steady progress that he began entertaining ideas of riding again.
But it was not to be. Nine months after the crash, he was told to retire by his doctors.
Lynch said at the time; "Although I made a superb recovery, you have to be 100% fit to think of race-riding. As I have lost some field of vision, I will never attain physical fitness to that standard."
Kipper Lynch married Carol Frances Parsons on March 17, 1962. She gave him two sons; Vincent Paul and Martin John, who became a jockey and won the 1985 William Hill Trophy on Si Signor, the 9/4 favourite.
Kipper enjoyed a round of golf and flying kites. He was also a competent violin player.
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Thank you for this article, is it really 46 years since the name Kipper Lynch was on a racecard, how times fly by, RIP.
I remember him well too,but not that his career was cut short tbh
R.I.P>
R.I.P>
Was at Haydock when Kipper won on Tony Ingham's smart Persian Bold in the John O'Gaunt. A very impressive winner that day.
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