John Farrelly

John Farrelly

Article by Alan Trout

Granted a National Hunt jockey’s licence for the 1957/58 campaign, John Thomas Farrelly had to wait until the start of the following season for his first winner. This came at Buckfastleigh on August 9, 1958, when Bubbles Way, trained by Eddie Reavey, won the Fullaford Handicap Chase by a length from Belljinks, the mount of Jim Renfree. 

It was the first time he had ridden Bubbles Way, and although he kept the ride for the next three outings, things did not go well. Bubbles Way fell on her next start at Newton Abbot on September 3; finished third at Devon & Exeter seven days later, only to be disqualified when the rider failed to draw the correct weight, having lost the weight cloth during the race; then fell at the first fence at Plumpton a fortnight after that. 

John did have one more success. It came at Folkestone on September 9, the day before Bubbles Way’s Devon & Exeter disqualification. He rode the 10-1 outsider of three, Corolanty Lass, in the Ashford Novices’ Chase. Having led for much of the way, his mount was challenged in the closing stages by Major Guy Cunard on his own horse Calypso Mio, and the result was a dead-heat. 

Corolanty Lass did not run again until the following April and John did not renew his licence at the end of the season. Indeed, the Plumpton fall from Bubbles Way may have ended his career prematurely, just when it had begun to get going.