Jack Moylan

Jack Moylan

1898 - 1949

John Moylan, known as Jack, was one of the leading Irish riders of the first half of the 20th century. In an era when it was common practice for Irish jockeys to ply their trade both on the Flat and over jumps, Jack won seven Irish classics (including a dead heat) and finished second in both the English and Irish Grand Nationals. 

Born in Churchtown, Co. Cork, the eldest of three jockey brothers, he began his racing career in England, apprenticed to Pat Hartigan, and rode his first winner on the Flat at Birmingham on April 15, 1914, when Highwayside won the Apprentices’ Handicap by half a length. By the end of that year he had ridden 22 winners.

The following season also started well. By the time he won the Bath Welter Handicap at that Somerset course on May 19 aboard the four-year-old Sweetest Melody, he had added five more to his total. However, they were to prove his last winners on the Flat in England. 

After serving as a cavalryman in France during World War I, he returned to Ireland to ride for Ronnie Moss’s stable at Limerick and was soon enjoying plenty of success. 

It was not until 1924 that he had the first of five victories over jumps in England, starting with a five-length success on Ballymacrory in the Brighton Chase at Plumpton on January 23. 

At Leicester on February 19 he rode the 10-year-old Fly Mask for the first time and won the Spring Handicap Chase on him. Six days later, he won on Templescoby in the Elvaston Handicap Chase at Derby, followed by another success on Fly Mask in the Buckhurst Handicap Chase at Lingfield Park on March 7. 

Three weeks later, Jack and Fly Mask lined up for their biggest test, the 1924 Grand National at Liverpool. Always prominent, Fly Mask was engaged in a prolonged duel from the last fence with Master Robert, ridden by the intrepid Bob Trudgill, and it was the latter who triumphed by four lengths. What made Jack’s performance particularly creditable was that he had spent the previous two weeks in hospital and tipped the scales at just 7st 12lb, requiring Fly Mask to shoulder three stone of lead. 

Jack’s final English victory was on Ballymacrory in the Byrkley Handicap Chase at Uttoxeter on April 16, 1924. He rode the same horse in the 1925 Grand National, but was among the fallers. Thereafter, he rode only occasionally in Britain. 

Back in Ireland, he finished second on 4-1 joint favourite Little Clifter in the 1926 Irish Grand National. Just two weeks later he gained his first Classic success when English raider Resplendent, trained at Stockbridge by Atty Persse, won the Irish 1,000 Guineas easily by two lengths. He rode her in that year’s Irish Derby, finishing fourth.  

Jack finished 1926 as Ireland’s champion jockey with a combined total 98 wins, Flat and jumps. It was the only year he headed the list. Better known at that stage as a jump jockey, he was then retained by Harry Ussher. Realising that Jack’s strength in the saddle relative to his weight could be employed to better use on the Flat, Ussher insisted that he restricted his activities to that sphere. 

There were occasional exceptions. On one of his rare visits to England, he rode Forage Cap in the 1932 Imperial Cup, finishing unplaced. 

Jack’s height, combined with recurring knee trouble, obliged him to ride with a longer length of leather than most Flat jockeys, which made him look less of a jockey than others, but his strength in persuading a sluggish horse to give of his best made up for that.   

In 1938 he rode Solford to win the Irish Cambridgeshire for Dan O’Brien, father of Vincent. Also around that time he forged a successful partnership with Curragh trainer Bob Fetherstonhaugh, who was based at Loughbrown Lodge. He provided Jack with all his six of his remaining Classic victories, Skoiter being the first of them in the 1939 Irish St Leger. 

In 1944 he rode Major Dermot McCalmont’s colt Slide On to dead heat with Good Morning, ridden by his son-in-law Jimmy Eddery, for the Irish 2,000 Guineas, then partnered him to win the Irish Derby, getting up by a head after a duel with Water Street, the mount of George Wells, despite appearing to falter when the two horses came close together in the final furlong. 

It appeared that Slide On, the 7-4 on favourite had caused a lot of his own trouble, making unduly heavy weather of what should have been an easy victory. However, Jack did not feel that was the case and, once inside the weighing room, he expressed his views in forceful fashion by flooring Wells with a single punch. The Stewards held an inquiry into the weighing room incident. Ironically, one of the Stewards that day was Major McCalmont, Slide On’s owner, who had the invidious experience of fining his jockey £10 and severely cautioning him as to his future conduct.    

Jack won a third Classic that year, on Avoca in the Irish Oaks. 

The following year, 1945, he won the Irish Derby again, this time on Piccadilly. However, whereas Slide On was an odds-on favourite, Piccadilly, was a 25-1 outsider. Jack swooped late on Piccadilly to win by (officially) a length. However, a photograph taken from behind the judge’s box suggested that the winning margin was closer to four lengths. 

Jack registered his final Classic success on Cassock in the 1946 Irish St Leger. He had ridden him in that year’s Irish Derby, finishing fifth. 

Troubled by worsening asthma in the latter years of his career, he died on September 20, 1949, within a very short time of his retirement from the saddle. 

His son, Michael, became a popular valet in the Irish weighing rooms. His daughter, Josephine (1925-2013) married Jimmy Eddery, father of jockeys Pat, Paul, Michael and David. 

One of Jack’s brothers, Cornelius Moylan, rode a couple of winners in Britain during the early 1920s, both in two-horse races, one at Uttoxeter, the other at the Isle of Wight.

On July 27, 2011 the Churchtown Historical and Heritage Society celebrated the life of Jack Moylan. In 2013 he was honoured with a plaque in the centre of town in Churchtown, the village where the great Vincent O’Brien began his training career.