Jim Dodd

Jim Dodd

Article by Alan Trout

James Edward (Jim) Dodd rode seven winners under National Hunt rules in 1924, then returned in 1929 to add three more.

Three wins in six days on the five-year-old Scalino gave Jim a fine start to his career, with victory in the Maiden Hurdle at Gatwick on January 30, 1924, being followed by wins at Sandown Park and Warwick. Scalino was trained at East Hendred by Jim’s father, James Theodore Dodd, a former leading jockey in France, and was having only his second start over jumps when winning at Gatwick.

There were four more wins for Jim that year, but then a long gap before his final three. They included a double at Torquay’s two-day Easter fixture, initiated by the four-year-old colt Small Polly taking the Maidencombe Selling Handicap Hurdle. Small Polly was trained by Dick Thrale, who had ridden him to win a similar contest on the first day of the Torquay meeting.

Later in the afternoon, Jim finished second on Wood Owl, also trained by Thrale, in the St Mary-Church Hurdle but lodged an objection to the winner, Aberdonian, ridden by William Holroyd, on grounds of ‘going the wrong side of a post’. After the starter had examined the track at the post in question, the stewards sustained the objection, thus giving Jim his double. 

His last winner was Theodust in the Island Selling Handicap Hurdle at the Isle of Wight meeting on May 15, 1929. He also trained briefly at this time but did not hold either licence after the 1929/30 season. 

Jim Dodd’s wins were, in chronological order:

1. Scalino, Gatwick, January 30, 1924

2. Scalino, Sandown Park, February 1, 1924

3. Scalino, Warwick, February 5, 1924

4. Red Conrad, Huntingdon, April 21, 1924

5. Marchesi, Aldershot, April 22, 1924

6. Annam, Buckfastleigh, June 10, 1924

7. Dark David, Gatwick, December 4, 1924

8. Small Polly, Torquay, April 2, 1929

9. Wood Owl, Torquay, April 2, 1929

10. Theodust, Isle of Wight, May 15, 1929