Irishman Tommy Cullen Junior was the son of a jockey of the same name. He rode a total of 31 winners during his career, the first of them on Lord Patrick in the Kinsealy Chase at Baldoyle on May 29, 1944.
Tommy rode the Irish-trained maiden Yung Yat in the 1946 Grand National but got no further than the first fence. He came to ride in Britain soon after and eventually became stable jockey to Captain Bill McMullen, who trained at Childrey, in Berkshire, and later at Wantage. He rode five winners during the 1949/50 season, four of them for McMullen.
He lost his 7lb claim when winning on selling hurdler Bray Well at Towcester on November 11, 1950, that being the first leg of a double completed by Skouras in the Three-Mile Handicap Chase.
The best horse he rode for McMullen was Pactol, on whom he won at Warwick and Southwell in the 1951/52 campaign. The following season, 1952/53, was Tommy’s most successful with seven winners, all of them for McMullen, including four on staying hurdler Noble Peach. He also won on Pactol at Warwick in December and landed a brace of two-mile handicap chases on Cold Steel. He rode 66/1 outsider Desire in the 1953 Grand National but pulled up at the Canal Turn on the first circuit.
Tommy rode just one winner the next season but it was the biggest of his career, steering Pactol to an easy victory in the Worcester Royal Porcelain Handicap Chase on March 22, 1954. His three wins the following season included a double on Cold Steel and Pactol at Warwick on December 11, 1954.
Tommy’s final three wins all came courtesy of McMullen’s Ice Trick, the last of them in the Larkspur Handicap Hurdle at Wincanton on November 17, 1955.
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