Tom Grantham

Thomas O’Dell Grantham was born on December 5, 1963, the son of former royal jump jockey Tony Grantham, who rode the Queen Mother’s Monaveen in the 1950 Grand National and won the 1955 Cheltenham Gold Cup on 33/1 shot Gay Donald.

Tom was a useful amateur before turning professional. He won the 1988 Kim Muir Challenge Cup Chase at Cheltenham on Josh Gifford’s Golden Minstrel. He rode 11 winners

that season including a Chepstow hunters’ chase on Fred Winter’s good chaser Observe. The following season he won the Dermot Daly Memorial Trophy, a handicap chase for amateur riders, at Cheltenham on Gifford’s Direct Approach.

Tom joined the professional ranks in 1990. He rode in the Grand National just once, in 1991, finishing seventh on Golden Minstrel. He achieved his best score in the 1992/93 season, riding 13 winners. They included the Fred Rimell Memorial Novices’ Chase at Worcester and the Daily Mail Novices’ Chase at Folkestone on Richard Rowe’s Lake Taureen.

He became stable jockey to Jim Old and steered Collier Bay to his first two wins in four-year-old hurdles at Lingfield in March and Newton Abbot on Easter Monday 1994, they being two of the 10 winners he rode that season. The following season he rode Collier Bay to victory in the Imperial Cup and finished fourth on him in the Coral Cup at Cheltenham four days later. However, Tom retired at the end of that season.

His opportunities amongst the professional ranks were limited despite his association with Jim Old. He achieved the last two wins of his career on Old’s handicap chaser Wolf Winter at Chepstow on April 24 and at Newton Abbot on May 5, 1995. He had his final ride at Worcester on May 24, finishing third in a bumper on Old’s five-year-old Chai-Yo.

Having hung up his boots, he became assistant trainer to Roger Charlton at Beckhampton. His nephew, George Gorman, is now a conditional jockey.