Peter O'Hara

Peter O’Hara

Article by Alan Trout

Born in 1900, Peter Charles O’Hara made his first visit to England in 1924 and eventually recorded 13 victories over the next seven years. 

His first English mount, Dinah Desmond, did not go well, for she was a faller in the Sawley Selling Hurdle at Derby on February 15, 1924, but just a few weeks later he had his first win when Strolling Knight took the Clumber Handicap Chase at the Retford Hunt meeting on the last day of March. The gelding had shown little in five previous starts that season but the race probably did not take much winning. With Peter in the saddle for the second time, Strolling Knight only had to be pushed out to beat Late Earl by a length. 

Peter added three more wins before the end of the season, all within a ten-day period. He then returned to Ireland and had his first taste of victory on Irish soil when Glenogue won the three-mile Stayers’ Handicap Chase at Waterford & Tramore on August 13. They followed up in a similar contest at Powerstown Park (known today as Clonmel) on September 4, then Peter added the Tradesmen’s Handicap Chase at Limerick aboard Taguel on the first day of October.  

Despite that promising start, he managed only two more wins, both at Tralee, over the next three years before trying his luck in Britain again. He had only one win in the 1927/28 season, at Wetherby’s 1928 Easter meeting, although, being his tenth in all, it meant that he lost the right to claim an allowance. He had a ride in that year’s Scottish Grand National at Bogside on Mutinous but they were unplaced.  

Peter failed to ride a winner the following season but then had seven in the 1929/30 campaign, including four on the chaser Condamine, and one with the help of the stewards at Uttoxeter. Having finished second on Rossmint in the Marston Selling Hurdle, he objected to the rider of the winner Dark Ray on grounds of ‘foul riding and striking me with his whip’. Dark Ray was disqualified and his jockey, Robert Malcolm, was suspended for three months.

Peter had his final win when Knotweed comfortably landed the Devil’s Water Selling Hurdle at Hexham on April 29, 1931, beating Jenico, the mount of Tommy Duggan, by six lengths. 

He had at least two rides on the Flat in 1933, partnering the seven-year-old Gay Amour, once finishing third at Hamilton Park.

His final ride under National Hunt rules was at Newbury on January 20, 1934, when Gallopade was a faller in the Reading Selling Chase. It is not known whether that fall resulted in prematurely ending his career in the saddle.

Peter O’Hara’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Strolling Knight, Retford Hunt, March 31, 1924

2. Dinah Desmond, Southwell, May 12, 1924

3. The Coiner, Market Rasem, May 17, 1924

4. The Coiner, Woore, May 22, 1924

5. Glenogue, Waterford & Tramore, August 13, 1924

6. Glenogue, Powerstown Park (Clonmel), September 4, 1924

7. Taguel, Limerick, October 1, 1924

8. Manister Lass, Tralee, April 1, 1925

9. Queen Chow, Tralee, October 12, 1927

10. Dracos, Wetherby, April 19, 1928

11. Royal Spear, Catterick Bridge, November 14, 1929

12. Appledore, Derby, January 14, 1930

13. Condamine, Catterick Bridge, March 6, 1930

14. Rossmint, Uttoxeter, April 5, 1930

15. Condamine, Market Rasen, May 19, 1930

16. Condamine, Sedgefield, May 24, 1930

17. Condamine, Hexham, June 7, 1930

18. Knotweed, Hexham, April 29, 1931