Tommy Burns Sr.

Tommy Burns Snr

1899-1991

Along with fellow jockeys Joe Canty and Morny Wing, Tommy Burns dominated Irish Flat racing during the inter-war period and in the immediate post-war years. He rode a total of 21 Irish Classic winners, a total only surpassed by Wing with 23. 

Tommy was born at Ayr on February 14, 1899, the son of trainer James Burns. When he was a young boy he was taken by his father to meet the great American jockey Danny Maher in the Piccadilly Hotel in London. It left such an impression on Tommy that he consciously modelled his style on Maher’s.

He rode his first winner when aged 14 on his father’s filly First League in the Thirkleby High-Weight Selling Handicap at Thirsk on October 18, 1913. The following year he moved to Ireland with his father, who had accepted the post of private trainer to Colonel William Hall-Walker. 

James Burns saddled numerous winners for Lord Wavertree, as Hall-Walker had then become, but did not stay long before returning to his native Ayr where he continued to train until his retirement in 1932. However, Tommy elected to remain in Ireland, where he headed the table of professional jockeys in 1916. He also gained his first Classic successes that year when winning the Irish Oaks and St Leger on Captive Princess.  

He was based in Ireland for the rest of his career, though with frequent trips back for big races in Scotland and England.  On one of the earliest of those trips he partnered Hall-Walker’s colt Kingston Black to finish second to the great Triple Crown winner Gay Crusader in the September Stakes (the wartime substitute St Leger) in 1917. 

His two other placed mounts in English Classics were 100-1 Resplendent, runner up to Short Story in the 1926 Oaks and winner of the Irish Oaks (and dam of Derby winner Windsor Lad), and Thankerton, third in the Two Thousand Guineas and Derby of 1936. 

His first big race successes in England came courtesy of Forest Guard, trained by his father, in the 1920 Ayr Gold Cup and the 1921 Gosforth Park Cup. He would go on to have several big race victories in Britain including four Royal Ascot winners, the City and Suburban Handicap and the Chester Cup. 

He won the inaugural running of the Irish Two Thousand Guineas, a race he was to win five times, on Soldennis in 1921. He also won the Irish One Thousand Guineas five times, the first of them on the remarkably versatile West Indies in 1927. Sent to England to run under National Hunt, she won the 1930 Grand International Hurdle at Gatwick and the 1931 Valentine Chase over Liverpool’s Grand National fences.   

Known familiarly as ‘The Scotchman’, Tommy rode the winners of nine Irish Classics before retiring in 1928 to train at Lumville, on the Curragh. But he renewed his jockey’s licence after just one year and resumed riding, having been appointed as first jockey to the More O’Ferrall stable. 

Tommy rode with a full length of rein and was regarded as superior to Joe Canty or Morny Wing in his handling of fillies. He rarely hit a filly and often got the best out of a lazy colt without resorting to the stick. In the last few strides of a tight finish Timmy would throw his weight sideways up a horse’s neck. It looked as though he was almost falling off, but that was his unique way of getting a horse to stretch for the line. 

He was equally effective over hurdles, winning the Galway Hurdle twice, on King Eber (1920) and Smoke Cloud (1923). He also rode 19 winners over jumps in Britain between 1921 and 1933, the first of which at Bogside on January 5, 1921, when he guided Blacking to victory by five lengths in the Cunningham Four-Year-Old Hurdle.   

He achieved his biggest jumps success in Britain on the five-year-old Cobequid in the Gloucestershire Hurdle at Cheltenham’s 1933 National Hunt Meeting, winning by six lengths from Armagnac, the mount of Staff Ingham. 

Ten of Tommy’s 19 British National Hunt wins were gained at Manchester, including his last, Down South, in the Spring Hurdle on Easter Monday, April 17, 1933. 

The Scotchman was crowned Irish champion jockey in 1932 and rode a further twelve Irish Classic winners including Raeburn in the 1936 Irish Derby, his sole victory in that race. Having retired again briefly before the Second World War, he resumed riding following the death in action of his eldest son James.

He rode four post-war Irish Classic winners including the 1948 Two Thousand Guineas and St Leger on Beau Sabreur. His final Classic success came on Northern Gleam in the 1953 Irish One Thousand Guineas, where he had the pleasure of his second son, Tommy ‘T.P.’, ride the runner-up. T.P. Burns, like his father before him, was equally proficient under National Hunt rules and would also emulate his father by becoming Ireland’s champion jockey.

Tommy’s last major success as a jockey came when winning the 1954 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot on Upadee. In a long career, interrupted by retirement and suspensions, he finally hung up his boots for good in 1956. 

Writing in his autobiography ‘Racing Through My mind’, Aubrey Brabazon commented: “Tommy Buns was certainly the most complete jockey I ever saw. While Canty was at his best on a colt that needed strong driving, and Wing excelled on sprinters, Burns was equally proficient in any situation, including the occasional spin over fences or hurdles.”

For all his great skills, Tommy earned a reputation as a ‘stopping’ jockey. Brabazon relates a story of Tommy coming back from a country race meeting during the war, when he found that his train was not stopping at Kildare. “So he pulled the communication cord and popped out. As he disappeared across the tracks the well-known racegoer ‘Buckets’ Maloney put his head out the window and shouted after him ‘Tommy, I’ve seen you stop many a horse but this is the first time I’ve seen you stop a train!’”

After quitting the saddle, Tommy trained a small but successful string at Lumville, earning a reputation as one of the shrewdest operators in the business, becoming noted for his successful tilts at the betting ring. His biggest training success was achieved with Vimadee. Ridden by his son T.P., in the 1961 Irish St Leger, beating the Irish Derby victor Your Highness by a length and a half.  

His other big winners as a trainer included Clondra Boy (1972 Naas November Handicap), Maddenstown (1973 Irish Benson & Hedges Hurdle), Solo Star (1980 Birdcatcher Nursery), and Bay Empress (1983 Brownstown Stakes).

He was the oldest trainer in Britain or Ireland when handing over Lumville Stables to his youngest son, James, at the age of 87 in January 1987. 

Tommy Burns died in February 1991, aged 92.

His 21 Irish Classic winners were: 

1916 Oaks: Captive Princess

1916 St Leger: Captive Princess 

1917 Oaks: Golden Maid 

1917 St Leger: Double Scotch 

1919 St Leger: Cheap Popularity 

1921 Two Thousand Guineas: Soldennis 

1923 Two Thousand Guineas: Soldumeno 

1926 Oaks: Resplendent 

1927 One Thousand Guineas: West Indies

1930 One Thousand Guineas: Star of Egypt

1931 St Leger: Beaudelaire 

1933 One Thousand Guineas: Spy-Ann 

1934 One Thousand Guineas: Kyloe

1936 Derby: Raeburn 

1939 Two Thousand Guineas: Cornfield 

1940 St Leger: Harvest Feast 

1941 Oaks: Uvira 

1947 Two Thousand Guineas: Grand Weather 

1948 Two Thousand Guineas: Beau Sabreur 

1948 St Leger: Beau Sabreur 

1953 One Thousand Guineas: Northern Gleam 

His big winners in Britain included:

1920: Ayr Gold Cup – Forest Guard

1921: Gosforth Park Cup – Forest Guard 

1930: Britannia Handicap – Nick Of Time

1933: Gloucestershire Hurdle – Cobequid 

1935: Coventry Stakes – Black Speck 

1936: City and Suburban Handicap – His Reverence 

1939: Ribblesdale Stakes – Ombro 

1939: Gordon Stakes – Wheatland 

1948: Churchill Stakes – Heron Bridge 

1950: Chester Cup – Heron Bridge

1954: Queen Anne Stakes – Upadee 

His National Hunt winners in Britain were, in chrono0logical order:

1. Blacking, Bogside, January 5, 1921

2. Daylight Saver, Manchester, February 26, 1921

3. Phantom Bold, Manchester, March 29, 1921

4. Son o’ Lee, Bogside, April 12, 1923

5. Debrett, Bogside, April 11, 1924

6. Phantom Charley, Manchester, April 22, 1924

7. Marsin, Haydock Park, December 6, 1924

8. Newburgh, Carlisle, December 11, 1924

9. Ugly Duckling, Manchester, March 6, 1925

10. Wind Swept, Manchester, April 13, 1925

11. Ugly Duckling, Manchester, April 13, 1925

12. Ugly Duckling, Manchester, March 5, 1926

13. Phantom Harry, Manchester, March 6, 1926

14. Crail, Manchester, Manchester, March 5, 1927

15. Mooreland, Haydock Park, December 3, 1932

16. Cobequid, Haydock Park, February 10, 1933

17. Cobequid, Cheltenham, March 7, 1933

18. Down South, Uttoxeter, April 3, 1933

19. Down South, Manchester, April 17, 1933

Information on Tommy Burns’ National Hunt winners supplied by Alan Troy.