Thomas Weston (February 1902 – 1981), born

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudder ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, was a British

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

. One of the most successful jockeys of the inter-war years, he won eleven English Classics, eight as stable jockey for the

Earl of Derby Earl of Derby ( ) is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby, under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the end ...

including two

Derby Stakes The Derby Stakes, also known as the Epsom Derby or the Derby, and as the Cazoo Derby for sponsorship reasons, is a Group 1 flat horse race in England open to three-year-old colts and fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey ...

winners in Sansovino and Hyperion. He was

British flat racing Champion Jockey The Champion Jockey of flat racing in Great Britain is the jockey who has ridden the most winning horses during a season. The list below shows the Champion Jockey and the number of winners for each year since 1840. The seasonal record of jockeys' ...

in 1926.

Early life

Weston was the son of a railway waggon driver.http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=977 Brief biography of Tommy Weston on Horseracing HistoryOnline (National Museum of Horseracing) Through his father, who was a fan of multiple championship winning jockey

Steve Donoghue Steve Donoghue (8 November 188423 March 1945) was a leading England, English flat-race jockey in the 1910s and 1920s. He was British flat racing Champion Jockey, Champion Jockey 10 times between 1914 and 1923 and was one of the most celebrated ...

, he developed an interest in the sport of horse racing. Aged 14 and weighing just 4 st 3 lb (26.8 kg), he became

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

Middleham Middleham is an English market town and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire. It lies in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, on the south side of the valley, upstream from the junction of the River Ure and River Cover. ...

trainer Ned McCormack, a stable controlled by a

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookma ...

.Wright, Howard (1986). The Encyclopaedia of Flat Racing. London: Robert Hale. .

Career

He rode his first winner at Newmarket on 30 October 1918 on a horse called Miss Richard. and his first notable win in the Jubilee Handicap at Kempton Park on Arion. After demonstrating his ability riding Redhead, winner of the Liverpool Summer Cup, for trainer

George Lambton George Lambton (23 December 1860 – 23 July 1945) was a British thoroughbred racehorse trainer. He was British flat racing Champion Trainer in the 1906, 1911 and 1912 seasons. Early life The Honourable George Lambton was born in London on 23 ...

, Lambton recommended Weston to

Lord Derby Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, (29 March 1799 – 23 October 1869, known before 1834 as Edward Stanley, and from 1834 to 1851 as Lord Stanley) was a British statesman, three-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom ...

to be his retained jockey. Weston rode for Lord Derby for ten years, winning nine

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

. These started with a win on Tranquil in the 1923

St. Leger The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a d ...

, followed by Sansovino in the 1924

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

at a muddy

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

. Before the latter, he got his white scarf caught in the top button of his racing top. This was taken as a lucky sign and the famous 'lucky white button' has been incorporated into the Lord Derby colours ever since. Two years later he was champion jockey in the year that the rider who would come to dominate the championship for the next thirty years, Gordon Richards, was out for nearly the whole season with illness."For The Record: Surprise association that led to so many memorable victories". The Racing Post. 11 February 2011 He would go on to ride the Horse of the Year in five of the next seven seasons –

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

(1927), Fairway (1928 and 1929), Gold Cup winner Bosworth (1930) and Hyperion (1933), who would go on to become one of the 20th century's foremost sires. It is argued that Weston should have won himself another Derby with Fairway, but his chance was lost after fans mobbed the horse at the start. The horse eventually proved himself of the highest order in winning the

Eclipse Stakes The Eclipse Stakes is a Group races, Group 1 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Sandown P ...

, the

St. Leger The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a d ...

and the

Champion Stakes The Champion Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlong ...

in two successive years. In 1933 Weston on Hyperion recorded what has been called "the greatest Derby-winning performance of all time" beating high class rivals by an official margin of four lengths, which from photographs has been shown to be closer to eight. Doubts were raised as to the manner of the victory, however, with the suggestion that Weston was aided in his victory by Steve Donoghue, on Hyperion's stablemate Thrapston, securing a clear passage for him.Evening Post, Wellington, 10 July 1935 He won in a then record time of 2 minutes, 34 seconds. Hyperion followed up in the St. Leger. The partnership between Lord Derby and Weston was dissolved in 1934, without any explanation. It has been suggested that Weston was in conflict with Colledge Leader, Lambton's successor as Lord Derby's trainer, a situation exacerbated when Hyperion lost that year's

Ascot Gold Cup The Gold Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 2 miles 3 furlongs and 210 yards (4,014 ...

. Weston's career was not the same afterwards, although he helped South African millionaire owner Sir Abe Bailey win his first Classic in forty years, when winning the 1936 Oaks on Lovely Rosa, said to be the worst Oaks winner of the 20th century. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he saw active service with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

and was sunk twice. For a time he was stationed at

Ebrington Barracks Ebrington Barracks was a military installation on the east bank of the River Foyle in Derry, Northern Ireland. History The present barracks, named after Hugh Fortescue, Viscount Ebrington (later Earl Fortescue), were built on the site in 1841 ...

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

. Future speed record breaker

Donald Campbell Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

and composer

Ivor Novello Ivor Novello (born David Ivor Davies; 15 January 1893 – 6 March 1951) was a Welsh actor, dramatist, singer and composer who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. He was born into a musical ...

frequented the cafe opposite. After the war, he returned to win the

2,000 Guineas The 2000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres) and scheduled to take place each year at ...

Happy Knight Happy Knight (1943 – 19 September 1963) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire, best known for winning the classic 2000 Guineas in 1946. After finishing unplaced on his only run a two-year-old in 1945, he was an emphatic winner of t ...

and a Lincolnshire Handicap on Langton Abbot.

Riding style

During his career, Weston was a very popular jockey and has been described as "a dashing jockey, with very sympathetic hands" and "combining great dash and courage... but liable to be somewhat erratic." Of his riding, author Quintin Gilbey wrote, "No jockey rode a more vigorous finish and his records showed that though inelegant he was most effective. He was in fact a far better jockey than he appeared to be from the stands." In frantic finishes, he was known for losing his cap.

Personal life

Weston was a close friend of entertainer

George Formby George Formby, (born George Hoy Booth; 26 May 1904 – 6 March 1961) was an English actor, singer-songwriter and comedian who became known to a worldwide audience through his films of the 1930s and 1940s. On stage, screen and record he s ...

, who himself was once an apprentice jockey. He bought his 1927

Eclipse Stakes The Eclipse Stakes is a Group races, Group 1 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Sandown P ...

winner, Cap-a-Pie, after its retirement, for £26 5s at an auction at

Folkestone Racecourse Folkestone Racecourse was a thoroughbred horse racing venue in southeast England, until it closed in 2012. It is located in Westenhanger, by junction 11 of the M20 motorway and about two miles west of Folkestone. The course remains closed and ...

, then took it away to be humanely destroyed, allegedly to save it from the dishonour of being used as a cart horse or worse.

Retirement

He retired in 1950 and stayed in Newmarket. In later life he was a "sad figure", having spent all the money he made. He died, aged 78, in 1981 at Ely Hospital."Mr Tommy Weston." The Times, London, England, 27 January 1981: 14. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 24 April 2013.

Major wins

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

1000 Guineas Stakes The 1000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 ...

– ''

Fair Isle Fair Isle (; sco, Fair Isle; non, Friðarey; gd, Fara) is an island in Shetland, in northern Scotland. It lies about halfway between mainland Shetland and Orkney. It is known for its bird observatory and a traditional style of knitting. Th ...

(1930)'' *

2000 Guineas Stakes The 2000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres) and scheduled to take place each year at ...

– (2) – ''

(1926),

(1946)'' *

– (2) – '' Sansovino (1924), Hyperion (1933)'' *

Oaks Stakes The Oaks Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 6 yards (2 ...

– (3) – ''

Beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

(1927),

Toboggan A toboggan is a simple sled traditionally used by children. It is also a traditional form of transport used by the Innu and Cree of northern Canada. In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people (often children) down a hill o ...

(1928), Lovely Rosa (1936)'' *

St Leger Stakes The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a d ...

– (3) – '' Tranquil (1923), Fairway (1928), Hyperion (1933)'' *

Ascot Gold Cup The Gold Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 2 miles 3 furlongs and 210 yards (4,014 ...

– (2) – ''Bosworth (1930), Tiberius (1935)'' * Ascot Gold Vase – ''Gainslaw (1933)'' *

Champion Stakes The Champion Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlong ...

– (3) – ''

Pharos The Lighthouse of Alexandria, sometimes called the Pharos of Alexandria (; Ancient Greek: ὁ Φάρος τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας, contemporary Koine ), was a lighthouse built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, during the re ...

(1924), Fairway (1928), Fairway (1929)'' *

Coronation Cup The Coronation Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 6 yards (2, ...

– (2) – ''Salmon Leap (1932), Cecil (1937)'' *

Dewhurst Stakes The Dewhurst Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old colts and fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 7 furlongs (1,408 metres), ...

– (2) – ''

(1927), Hyperion (1932)'' *

Eclipse Stakes The Eclipse Stakes is a Group races, Group 1 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Sandown P ...

– (3) – ''

(1927), Fairway (1928), Caerleon (1931)'' *

Goodwood Cup The Goodwood Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Goodwood over a distance of 2 miles (3,219 ...

– (3) – ''Salmon Leap (1931), Tiberius (1935), Cecil (1936)'' *

July Cup The July Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run on the July Course at Newmarket over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres ...

– ''Phalaros (1926)'' *

Middle Park Stakes The Middle Park Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old colts. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it is s ...

– ''

Pharamond Pharamond, also spelled Faramund, is a legendary early king of the Franks, first referred to in the anonymous 8th-century ''Liber Historiae Francorum'', which depicts him as the first king of the Franks. Historical sources and scholarship Pharam ...

(1927)'' *

Princess of Wales's Stakes The Princess of Wales's Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run on the July Course at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile and 4 furlo ...

– ''

(1927)'' *

Richmond Stakes The Richmond Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old colts and geldings. It is run at Goodwood over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it is schedul ...

– ''Bobsleigh (1934)'' * Stewards' Cup – ''Figaro (1934)'' * St. James's Palace Stakes – ''Andrea (1932)''

Biography

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weston, Tommy British jockeys 1902 births 1981 deaths British Champion flat jockeys Sportspeople from Dewsbury