Eamon Tierney

Eamon Tierney 

The career of jump jockey Eamon Tierney (note: his first name is spelt ‘Eamonn’ in Ruff’s Guide listings) was a relatively brief one but he succeeded in riding a Cheltenham Festival winner. He rode for Paul James, who trained a small string of horses at Kyre, near Tenbury Wells. 

Eamon’s big moment came when winning the 1990 Mildmay of Flete Chase on James’s 66-1 outsider New Halen. New Halen was running for the 14th time that season and had not had the ideal preparation for a Festival winner, having raced four times the previous August, but he certainly was game and after leading to the sixth fence he regained the lead at the tenth and was clear jumping the last. He ran on courageously up the hill to win by eight lengths.

He won eight races altogether on New Halen, the first having been at Worcester on August 5, 1989, when landing the Michael Low Homes Novices’ Chase by ten lengths. That was also Eamon’s initial success in  England. Apart from their Cheltenham victory they also won the Harry Brown Challenge Cup together at Wolverhampton on Boxing Day 1990. 

Although 13 of Eamon’s 19 British wins were gained on horses trained by Paul James, it was Richard Lee who provided his last three victories, the final one coming at Hereford on April 20, 1992, when the five-year-old Good For A Loan landed the Peterstow Novices’ Handicap Hurdle by three and a half lengths.

New Halen ran 90 times over jumps, including in two Grand Nationals, and won 12 chases. He provided by far the biggest moment in the respective careers of Paul James and Eamon Tierney, the latter subsequently returning to his native Ireland. 

Eamon Tierney’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. New Halen, Worcester, August 5, 1989

2. Dehnberdar, Newton Abbot, August 29, 1989

3. New Halen, Wolverhampton, October 30, 1989

4. New Halen, Hereford, November 7, 1989

5. New Halen, Hereford, March 3, 1990

6. New Halen, Cheltenham, March 14, 1990

7. New Halen, Stratford-on-Avon, October 20, 1990

8. One For Irene, Hereford, December 14, 1990

9. New Halen, Wolverhampton, December 26, 1990

10. New Halen, Cheltenham, December 31, 1990

11. Casper Carrot, Windsor, January 1, 1991

12. Petty Bridge, Stratford-on-Avon, June 1, 1991

13. Smooth Start, Worcester, August 10, 1991

14. Bravo Star, Ascot, October 23, 1991

15. Sanawi, Hereford, October 25, 1991

16. Petty Bridge, Stratford-on-Avon, October 31, 1991

17. Annicombe Run, Ludlow, February 27, 1992

18. Phillimay, Newton Abbot, April 18, 1992

19. Good For A Loan, Hereford, April 20, 1992