James Hogan Jr.

1887 - 1950

James Hogan Jr was born at Rathkeale, Co Limerick, on December 7 1887. He was apprenticed to Michael Dawson at the Curragh. He rode winners on the Flat in Ireland before becoming a jump jockey and crossing the Irish Sea to ply his trade in Britain, where he went on to ride a total of 220 winners under National Hunt rules.

He made the perfect start to his British career by winning on his first ride, Chessington, trained by Bob Gore, in the Fareham Selling Handicap Chase at Portsmouth on Whit Monday, May 27, 1912.

James’ career was at its height throughout the 1920s. Numerically, his best year was in 1923 when he partnered 61 winners, placing him second, three behind Dick Rees, in the National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship. His successes included two at that year’s Cheltenham National Hunt meeting, on Strolling Knight in the Spa Selling Chase and Pacifist in the Breedon Selling Handicap Hurdle.

It was also the year in which he gained his most important success, riding 5-2 favourite Clonree to a one-and-a-half-length victory in the 1923 Welsh Grand National at Cardiff. James’s other big winners included the 1922 Manchester Jubilee Hurdle on Fairway, the 1924 Gloucestershire Hurdle on Gentleman Of France, and the 1929 Lancashire Hurdle on Gipsy King, while in Ireland he won the Galway Blazers Handicap Chase in 1919 on Three X.

He was unlucky not to have won more big prizes. He finished second in the 1921 Champion Chase on Semper Idem, the 1924 Lancashire Chase on Ben Cruachan, and the 1926 Cheltenham Gold Cup, beaten four lengths by Koko in the latter. In addition, he finished third in the 1924 Champion Chase on Hawker, the 1924 Grand Sefton Chase on Rathory, the 1926 Imperial Cup on Border Ranger, the 1927 Liverpool Hurdle on Louvixen, and the 1929 Molyneux Chase on Bolshevist.

James continued to make regular visits to his native Ireland, winning all three chasses on the Baldoyle card on March 16, 1925: the Malahide Chase on Max (on whom he twice completed the course in the Grand National), the Stewards’ Handicap Chase on Fort Elizabeth, and the valuable Metropolitan Handicap Chase on Golden Street.

He rode in seven Grand Nationals between 1921 and 1929, getting round in three of them but never finishing closer than when fifth on the previous year’s winner Sergeant Murphy, by then a 14-year-old, in 1924.

His seven Grand National mounts were:

1921: Cupid’s Dart, fell

1922: Dunadry, fell

1923: Max, sixth

1924: Sergeant Murphy, fifth

1925: Max, eighth

1928: Coyote, fell 4th

1929: K.C.B., fell 14th

He rode his last British winner on Observatory in the Burnham Chase at Windsor on February 19, 1930. Thereafter he rode mainly in Ireland. He returned for a final time on March 19, 1941, finishing unplaced on Silver Shine in Cheltenham’s Gloucestershire Hurdle, a race he had won 17 years earlier when in his prime.

Welsh jockey Davy Jones, quoted in Pat Lucas’s book ‘Fifty Years of Racing at Chepstow’, had this to say about James Hogan Jr: “He was a great character, a very colourful dresser – wore his clothes up to the minute just like a fashion plate. He always carried a rolled umbrella on his arm with a leather handle and a gold band round it. He wore his collar open, with a blue spitted cravat, and always looked immaculate. As a jockey he was quite brilliant.”

Davy added: “When he was in a London hospital, he requested a last trip to see the lights, and he got it. John, Michael Beary’s brother, took him, and about two days after that he died.”

James Hogan Jr died on November 20, 1950, aged 62. His funeral was held at East Hendred.

Biggest wins:

1919: Galway Blazers Handicap Chase – Three X

1922: Manchester Jubilee Hurdle – Fairway

1923: Welsh Grand National – Clonree

1924: Gloucestershire Hurdle – Gentleman Of France

1926: Metropolitan Handicap Chase (Baldoyle) – Golden Street

1929: Lancashire Hurdle – Gipsy King