Jimmy Hickey

Jimmy Hickey

1908-1985

Article by Alan Trout

Irishman James Hickey, known as Jimmy, rode winners on the Flat and over jumps during the 1930s. He was much more successful in the latter category and had one winner at Cheltenham’s National Hunt meeting.    

Apprenticed to Sir Hugh Nugent, Jimmy had his first mount in public when unplaced on Jubilation in the Beckhampton Plate at Newbury on April 1, 1927, the race being won by Fred Winter Senior on Mellin, beating 27 others. 

Although he had a few more rides on the Flat, it was not until he took out a jumps licence that he managed to win a race. This was at Wye on March 23, 1932, when steering Slieve Brack to a ten-length victory in the Canterbury Handicap Hurdle, beating Dayboy, the mount of Denis McCarthy, although the 24lb weight concession the winner was receiving from the runner-up undoubtedly helped. There were no more wins that season, but he rode five in both the 1932/33 and 1934/35 campaigns, and for the remainder of the decade had at least one success each season. 

In 1935, when he could no longer claim on the Flat, he had his first win in that sphere aboard Speed On, trained by Harry Hedges, in a match for the Lympne Selling Handicap Plate at Folkestone on August 12, beating Polydamas, the mount of Albert Taylor. In that race he used a whip which incorporated a rattle, a trick he had learned while riding mules at home in Tipperary. The Jockey Club later banned the whip and changes the rules when they realised the existing rules did not prevent its use. 

Jimmy had one more win on the Flat that year, and two in 1938, but it was over jumps that he enjoyed the most success.

On March 11, 1936, he won a race at Cheltenham’s National Hunt meeting, landing the Lansdown Selling Handicap Hurdle on Buland Dar, owned and trained by Harry Hedges, beating Uncanny II, ridden by his American owner Mr ‘Pete’ Bostwick, by a length and a half. 

Jimmy’s last two wins on the Flat were on Motu Kari, firstly at Catterick Bridge on October 15, 1938, and then at Hurst Park two weeks later, when narrowly landing the Syon Selling Handicap. The margin of victory over Hermani, ridden by the promising young jockey Doug Smith, was just a neck. Motu Kari was owned and trained by former jump jockey Gerry Hardy, and it was he who provided Jimmy with his final victory, when Horchatib took the Buckden Selling Handicap Hurdle at Huntingdon on Easter Monday, April 10, 1939, by three-quarters of a length from Kirrimuir, the mount of Scotty Pringle. 

Although Jimmy renewed his jumps licence for one more season, there were no more winners, leaving his career total at 24. He trained briefly at Epsom in the early 1950s

He died at Canvey Island, Essex on October 25, 1985. 

Jimmy Hickey’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Slieve Brack, Wye, March 23, 1932 NH

2. Abbadie, Lingfield Park, January 11, 1933 NH

3. Abbadie, Sandown Park, February 2, 1933 NH

4. Collodian, Lingfield Park, February 3, 1933 NH

5. King Solomon, Fontwell Park, April 27, 1933 NH

6. King Solomon, Stratford-on-Avon, May 6, 1933 NH

7. Collodian, Plumpton, March 31, 1934 NH

8. Goose Medal, Wye, November 12, 1934 NH

9. Buck Of Berks, Kempton Park, December 27, 1934 NH

10. Buland Dar, Newbury, December 29, 1934 NH

11. Defiant, Chelsmsford, April 29, 1935 NH

12. Buland Dar, Stratford-on-Avon, May 11, 1935 NH

13. Speed On, Folkestone, August 12, 1935 Flat

14. Winged Warfare, Brighton, September 5, 1935 Flat

15. Buland Dar, Cheltenham, March 11, 1936 NH

16. Tuppence, Towcester, June 1, 1936 NH

17. Repondant, Lingfield Park, February 13, 1937 NH

18. Repondant, Plumpton, March 27, 1937 NH

19. Thereas, Plumpton, November 13, 1937 NH

20. Reviewer, Wye, April 4, 1938 NH

21. Moto Kari, Catterick Bridge, October 15, 1938 Flat

22. Moto Kari, Hurst Park, October 29, 1938 Flat

23. My Sandwich, Wolverhampton, March 14, 1939 NH

24. Horchatib, Huntingdon, April 10, 1939 NH