James Burke
Article by Alan Trout
National Hunt jockey James Thomas Burke rode two winners in his native Ireland before adding 10 more in Britain during the 1950s. Interestingly, all his British victories were in chases.
It was at Plumpton on Easter Monday, April 19, 1954 that he opened his British account when winning the Abergavenny Challenge Cup on the six-year-old Nome, coming home unchallenged 20 lengths clear of their nearest rival. Owned and trained by permit holder Tim Palmer at Charing, near Ashford, in Kent, Nome had already won twice during that campaign.
James rode at least one winner for each of the next four seasons, achieving a best score of four in 1954/55, highlighted by the success of Eyot’s Point, trained by Frank Pullen at Fleet, Hampshire, in the Lavington Challenge Cup Handicap Chase at Fontwell Park on Whit Monday 1955.
In 1958 James rode longshot Staraza for Newmarket trainer Fiddler Goodwill in the second running of Sandown Park’s Whitbread Gold Cup. They pulled up that day but, reverting to a more realistic level next time out, they romped home easy winners of the Milton Handicap Chase at Huntingdon on Whit Monday, May 26. That proved to be the final winner of James’s career. He held a licence for one more season but had no further success.
James Burke’s British winners were, in chronological order:
1. Nome, Plumpton, April 19, 1954
2. Enchanted April, Towcester, May 15, 1954
3. Don Kerry, Towcester, June 5, 1954
4. Ambassador’s Lapse, Newton Abbot, September 24, 1954
5. William Oge, Towcester, October 23, 1954
6. Eyot’s Point, Stratford-on-Avon, May 21, 1955
7. Eyot’s Point, Fontwell Park, May 30, 1955
8. Easy Winner, Hurst Park, December 17, 1955
9. Renovate, Towcester, May 11, 1957
10. Staraza, Huntingdon, May 26, 1958
