James O'Farrell
James's father, Seamus O'Farrell, born and bred in Thomastown, Ireland, knows that his son has been unlucky.
'He was an excellent horseman' says Seamus, 'and just when it seemed that his start was on the rise, injury nailed him. He broke his neck, broke his back twice, and his knee and picked up numerous injuries. He was a very good jockey but injuries took their toll.'
James was riding horses before he could walk.
He rode as an amateur jockey in Ireland and represented his country in the World Amateur Fegentri Series for two years, winning the Silver Spur in jump racing.
He moved to England in 2007 to pursue his career as a jockey.
James also rode many times abroad, significantly winning the American Grand National on Percussionist. Another big foreign race
James captured was the Norwegian Hurdle.
In 2009, James broke his neck and, two years later, his back.
Due to the lack of power in his wrist, he was eventually refused a licence.
It was, admitted James later, a serious culture shock and hard decision to accept, but – on a steep learning curve – he got stuck
into information technology as he attempted to carve out another career.
Bill O’Gorman
William Andrew O’Gorman was born on March 22, 1948, the son of Newmarket trainer William Gerard O’Gorman, who had first taken a first trainer’s licence in 1953. In the final stages of Bill’s grammar school education, he was offered a place to read history at Warwick University. However, rather than opt for a further three years of academic study, he decided to follow his father’s footsteps into the sport of horse racing.
He began as an amateur rider and had his first mount in public on the unplaced Crown Derby at Lingfield on August 22, 1964. He rode that horse again at Wolverhampton the following month, finishing second to Sir William Pigott-Brown on Owen Davis. His first winner came the following year on Tudor Summer in a one-mile Kempton amateur riders’ handicap on July 13, 1965.
Bill was in demand in amateur riders’ Flat races during the second half of the 1960s. He rode Henry Cecil’s first-ever winner, Celestial Cloud, in the Newby Amateur Riders’ Maiden Stakes at Ripon on May 17, 1969, scraping home by a short head. Earlier that same year he’d won an Ascot amateur riders’ maiden on the Michael Pope-trained Alvaro, who won again next time out to give young apprentice Pat Eddery his first winner. Eddery then proceeded to ride Alvaro to victory in another four races on the bounce.
Bill turned professional and rode for a couple of seasons under National Hunt rules. He had around 50 mounts over hurdles, riding half a dozen winners. He rode professionally on the Flat from 1975, and in 1979 became the first Flat jockey in modern times to simultaneously hold a trainer’s licence. He rode approximately 30 winners all told, Flat and jumps combined.
Based at Seven Springs stables on Newmarket’s Hamilton Road, he developed into a highly successful trainer and was particularly astute with two-year-olds and sprinters. He trained both Provideo and Timeless Times to win 16 times apiece as two-year-olds. Probably the best he trained was Superlative, winner of the July Stakes and Flying Childers Stakes in 1983.
His other major successes include the King’s Stand Stakes (Sayf El Arab, 1983), Richmond Stakes (Mac’s Imp, 1990), Temple Stakes (Mummy’s Game, 1982), Phoenix Stakes (twice: Superpower, 1988 and Mac’s Imp, 1990), Palace House Stakes (twice: On Stage (1983 and Reesh, 1984), and the Norfolk Stakes (twice: Brondesbury, 1982 and Superpower, 1988).
His daughter Emma O’Gorman rode for her father as an apprentice and then as stable jockey in the 1990s.