Tommy Fiely

Tommy Fiely

Article by Alan Trout

Tommy Fiely was born in 1876. According to ‘Who’s Who in Irish Racing’ the family name was Feely, but it appeared as ‘Fiely’ on his jockey’s licence.

Tommy was champion apprentice on the Flat in Ireland and recorded his greatest success on 4-1 favourite Wales, owned and trained by the top-class amateur rider Willie Cullen, in the 1897 Irish Derby. Able to go to scale at just 6st 3lb, at that time Tommy rode exclusively on the Flat, confining his activities to the major tracks. 

He had ridden only one winner during the 1897 season prior to that Irish Derby meeting. However, over the course of the three days he rode three winners on the opening day, a double on Derby day and one winner on the last day, being placed on three of his remaining four mounts. He rode nineteen winners that year. The following year he won the Baldoyle Derby on Split The Wind. He then combined riding on the Flat and over jumps. 

His first winner in England was the five-year-old Fanciful in the Haydock Park Chase at that Lancashire course on December 19, 1900. Fanciful had already carried Willie Cullen to victory at Manchester and Birmingham earlier in the year. Now, with Tommy in the saddle for the first time, they beat Souvaroff, the mount of Ernie Acres, by two lengths. 

On New Year’s Day 1901, Tommy steered Fanciful home to take the Trafford Park Handicap Chase at Manchester by six lengths. His only other British win that year was much closer, having only a head to spare when Red Wing, owned and trained by Willie Cullen, who usually rode him, took the Selling Hurdle at Derby, beating Percy Woodland on Lord Bob in what The Sportsman newspaper called “a desperate finish.” 

Tommy’s first English win of 1902 was on Seastorm at Southwell on March 3. Willie Cullen had ridden the four-year-old in two unplaced efforts in January, but now Seastorm romped home by ten lengths. They followed this up with a four-length victory in the Belgrave Selling Hurdle at Leicester ten days later, after which Seastorm was exported to Germany. 

Tommy had just one ride over the Liverpool fences when a faller on Hercules II in the Grand Sefton Chase on November 6, 1902. From 1903 until 1913 he rode only under National Hunt rules. After his retirement that year, he continued to be a regular racegoer until after the Second World War. 

Tommy Fiely’s five British jumps winners were, in chronological order:

1. Fanciful, Haydock Park, December 19, 1900

2. Fanciful, Manchester, January 1, 1901 

3. Red Wing, Derby, March 4, 1901 

4. Seastorm, Southwell, March 3, 1902

5. Seastorm, Leicester, March 13, 1902