Bob Skelton (jockey)
Robert James Skelton was a New Zealand jockey who competed from the 1950s through the 1980s. Among his many major race wins, Skelton rode Great Sensation to three victories in the Wellington Cup and won the Auckland Cup on Rose Mellay in 1974 and again in 1977 on Royal Cadenza. In 1976, he rode Van der Hum to victory in Australia's most prestigious race, the Melbourne Cup, and ten years later rode Rising Fear into second place in the 1986 Cup. He was also successful in completing a double in the Perth Cup on Magistrate in 1980 and 1981. Overall winning 8 3200m and two mile races.
In the 1978 Queen's Birthday Honours, Skelton was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to horse racing as a jockey.
Skelton retired in the 1987–88 season. He was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1995, and into the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2007 the Auckland Racing Club voted him as their 8th official "Legend of Ellerslie" where he won nine jockey premierships at Ellerslie Racecourse between 1955 and 1976. Skelton died in Melbourne on 19 August 2016.
His brother Bill Skelton was also a successful jockey.
