Article by Chris Pitt
National Hunt jockey James Brennan should not be confused with James Joseph Brennan who was riding at the same time during the 1950s. To differentiate between the two, the newspapers usually identified them as ‘Jas’ or ‘James Brennan’ and ‘Joseph’, ‘Jos’ or ‘J. Jos. Brennan’.
James Brennan was apprenticed to the Queen Mother’s trainer Peter Cazalet and rode his first winner on Arrius in a selling chase at Wye on February 26, 1951, his only success that season.
His three wins the following season, 1951/52, comprised two within nine days on Cazalet’s novice chaser Beaconette and one at Newton Abbot on the late Lord Mildmay’s fine chaser Cromwell, who was probably the best horse James rode during his career. Placed in the 1948 and 1949 Grand Nationals when ridden by his owner, Cromwell was by now 11 years old but still well capable of conceding weight all round to lesser rivals, as he proved that mid-May day at Newton Abbot when James Brennan’s 7lb claim saw him carry 12st 4lb (he’d originally been allocated a hefty 12st 11lb) to a three-length victory.
The next season saw James riding for Reigate trainer Jack O’Donoghue, who provided him with five of his six winners that term. They included three on African Mission, culminating in the Emblem Handicap Chase at Kempton, and a brace of late season victories on handicap hurdler Noblyona (which were James’ first over hurdles, his first eight having been over fences). The second of Noblyona’s wins was also James’ tenth winner, reducing his claim to 5lb.
While maintaining his link with O’Donoghue, James rode mainly as a freelance during the 1953/54 campaign and his five wins were for various small-time trainers, including two in a week on handicap hurdler Loophole for Dorking-based Peter Rice-Stringer.
He rode just two winners in 1954/55, both on O’Donoghue’s handicap chaser Wild Wisdom, the second of those victories coming in the Whitelaw Challenge Cup at Fontwell. It was 18 months before he rode another, novice chaser Loot at West Norfolk Hunt (Fakenham) on Whit Monday 1955 for former jump jockey Peter Wood, who trained at Dereham, in Norfolk.
James’ association with Peter Wood – in particular Wood’s chaser Rolling Rapture – was to be the mainstay for the remainder of his career. Rolling Rapture supplied him with both his wins in 1956/57 and two of his three in 57/58, including what would prove his last, in the Wye Handicap Chase on March 31, 1958.
James and Rolling Rapture parted company when attempting a repeat course and distance victory at Wye five weeks later, resulting in injuries that kept James out of the saddle for the whole of the following season. It was not until Boxing Day 1959 at Huntingdon that he and Rolling Rapture were reunited, only for Rolling Rapture to fall again.
The partnership came within a neck of scoring at Plumpton on January 4, 1960, James’s objection to the winner on grounds of crossing being overruled. Later that season they finished a distant last of three finishers at Southwell but their season again ended with a fall, this time at Fakenham on Easter Monday.
Rolling Rapture and James Brennan combined for a final time at Huntingdon on Saturday, October 22, 1960, finishing fourth, beaten 18 lengths. Half an hour later, James took a crashing fall from a novice chaser named Tarantula. The horse was killed and it signalled the end of the jockey’s riding career.
James Brennan’s winners were, in chronological order:
1. Arrius, Wye, February 26, 1951
2. Beaconette, Lingfield, March 1, 1952
3. Beaconette, Wye, March 10, 1952
4. Cromwell, Newton Abbot, May 17, 1952
5. Chisel, Wincanton, October 25, 1952
6. African Mission, Plumpton, December 3, 1952
7. African Mission, Plumpton, January 28, 1953 (dead-heat)
8. African Mission, Kempton Park, February 11, 1953
9. Noblyona, Wincanton, April 30, 1953
10. Noblyona, Uttoxeter, May 2, 1953
11. Chisel, Fontwell Park, September 14, 1953
12. Coastal Cutter, Wincanton, March 18, 1954
13. Loophole, Wye, April 12, 1954
14. Loophole, Huntingdon, April 19, 1954
15. Maiden Wrangler, June 5, 1954
16. Wild Wisdom, Plumpton, October 11, 1954
17. Wild Wisdom, Fontwell Park, November 4, 1954
18. Loot, West Norfolk Hunt (Fakenham), May 21, 1956
19. Rolling Rapture, Plumpton, December 5, 1956
20. Rolling Rapture, Windsor, January 5, 1957
21. Charlie Boy III, Devon & Exeter, September 12, 1957
22. Rolling Rapture, Plumpton, November 18, 1957
23. Rolling Rapture, Wye, March 31, 1958
