George Coogan

George Coogan

Article by Alan Trout

Although George Joseph Coogan had his first victory at Wye, he spent much of the 1950s riding on northern courses where had added another two dozen wins, ten of them on the same horse.  

That first victory was on the ten-year-old Texas Dan in the Harville Handicap Chase on March 10, 1952, having six lengths to spare over Fred Winter on Silver Spurs. Texas Dan had been one of eleven horses to depart at the first fence in the 1951 Grand National, after the starter had let the runners go when half of them were still milling round at the start, resulting in a chaotic rush to the first fence and a third of the field getting no further. Paddy Fitzgerald was Texas Dan’s jockey that day.

It was nearly a year before George scored again, and this time it was on the 15-year-old Rompworthy, a one-length winner of the Shoveller Selling Chase at Newcastle on February 21, 1953. They followed up at Catterick Bridge six days later. 

Cream Of The Border, trained like Rompworthy by Alastair Paton, provided George with his fourth winner, but their attempt over the Liverpool fences did not go well, for the eight-year-old was already tailed off when refusing at the sixth fence in the Molyneux Chase in November 1953. After that, however, the combination could do little wrong and won nine more races together. The only exception was the Scottish Grand National, in which they finished ninth in 1954 and pulled up in 1955.

George’s most successful season was 1953/54 with eleven wins. It would appear that he did not ride any winners in Ireland, although he did finish third on Carey’s Cottage in the 1954 running of the Galway Plate. 

His last winner was Hot Night in the Bowmont Hurdle at Kelso on April 30, 1958. Kelso was also the venue for his final ride when Arcopeto was eighth of eleven finishers in the Sydenham Handicap Hurdle. 

George Coogan’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Texas Dan, Wye, March 10, 1952

2. Rompworthy, Newcastle, February 21, 1953

3. Rompworthy, Catterick Bridge, February 27, 1953

4. Cream Of The Border, Carlisle, April 4, 1953

5. Hector, Perth, September 24, 1953

6. Selection II, Carlisle, October 10, 1953

7. Cream Of The Border, Carlisle, October 10, 1953

8. Rompworthy, Carlisle, October 12, 1953

9. Cream Of The Border, Ayr, October 19, 1953

10. Cream Of The Border, Newcastle, November 14, 1953

11. Cream Of The Border, Haydock Park, December 12, 1953

12. Duke Of Bronte, Ayr, January 2, 1954

13. Leavalley, Catterick Bridge, February 26, 1954

14. Cream Of The Border, Ayr, March 20, 1954

15. Consular, Carlisle, April 17, 1954

16. Cream Of The Border, Hexham, May 3, 1954

17. Fair And Warm, Perth, September 23, 1954

18. Cream Of The Border, Carlisle, April 9, 1955

19. Leavalley, Carlisle, April 9, 1955

20. Cream Of The Border, Hexham, May 30, 1955

21. Cream Of The Border, Kelso, March 3, 1956

22. Young Lochinvar, Carlisle, March 31, 1956

23. Cock Feathers, Carlisle, April 2, 1956

24. Cock Feathers, Sedgefield, May 12, 1956

25. Hot Night, Kelso, April 30, 1958