James Doyle, usually known as Jimmy, was the son of John Doyle, a well-known jockey who won the 1892 English Cesarewitch on Burnaby and back-to-back runnings of the Irish Derby, on Aviator (in 1910) and Shanballymore (1911). When he retired from the saddle, John Doyle started training at Rossmore Lodge, The Curragh, and it was there that Jimmy was born on April 30, 1904.Jimmy was the second eldest of five brothers, all of whom became jockeys, and there was one occasion when all five rode in the same race at the Curragh. His sister, Kathleen was also an accomplished rider and won many prizes in the show rings.

Jimmy was apprenticed to his father and had his first ride in public when he was just 13 years old. He came to England in 1922 to ride as lightweight jockey for Percy Cunliffe and Wilfred Purefoy, who had gained a reputation for landing substantial coups as the principal members of the infamous ‘Druid’s Lodge Confederacy’ in the early years of the twentieth century. They were still at that time based at Druid’s Lodge, their purpose-built stable on Salisbury Plain. In 1922, Jimmy won the Salisbury Cup on Light Dragoon and had no difficulty in doing the weight of 6st 12lb. Two years later he achieved his only classic success when winning the 1924 Irish 1,000 Guineas on Voltoi.

Light and small boned yet possessing tremendous strength, Jimmy won many races when carrying more than two stone of dead weight. For some years he rode over hurdles as well as on the Flat, where he frequently had to carry anything up to five stone of lead. In February 1926 he rode four winners over hurdles in one week, starting with the four-year-old Tony M at Manchester on the Saturday, following that by winning on Ceylonese at Ludlow on the Wednesday, then scoring on Belsy Belle at Haydock on the Friday and finishing up with another victory on Ceylonese at Haydock the next day.

Jimmy rated Mr J. V. Rank’s filly Why Hurry, the 1943 wartime Oaks winner, as the best he rode on the Flat. He partnered her to her first victory, a two-year-old maiden at Salisbury on October 17, 1942.

He established a good partnership with the Tommy Rayson-trained sprinter Robert Barker in the late 1940s, winning at Sandown, Lewes and Lingfield in 1948, then at Hurst Park and Lingfield in 1949, humping top-weight of 9st 7lb on both the latter occasions. He also rode Robert Barker when finishing second to the flying Abernant in Royal Ascot’s King’s Stand Stakes and when third in Goodwood’s King George Stakes.

Jimmy’s last winner was Jamaica Coup in the Guys Cliffe Maiden Handicap at Birmingham on April 17, 1951, beating Gordon Richards on the favourite, Avilor, by a neck. He retired at the end of that year, only to return for one more season in 1957 when he failed to ride a winner.