James Thomson

James Thomson

Article by Alan Trout

Scottish National Hunt jockey James Thomson – often incorrectly shown as ‘Thompson’ in results – rode a dozen winners in the years immediately before and after the First World War.

His first ride was at Bogside, known in those days as Eglinton Hunt, on April 2, 1909, when he was one of three fallers in the four-runner Montgomerie Chase, leaving Joseph Farrell to come home alone on Bay Fox. 

It was not until the corresponding Bogside fixture four years later that James finally rode his first winner, but he then had two in two days. On April 18 Silver Cap took the Garnock Selling Handicap Chase, having led all the way and held off the challenge of Fair Rosie to win by a length. On the following day, James this time won the Montgomerie Chase with Bell Toll scoring by 30 lengths. 

He added three more before the end of the year but 1914 did not go so well. On the one occasion he passed the post first, at Cartmel on Whit Monday, June 1, his mount Red Sorrel was disqualified as James was unable to draw the correct weight.

There was then a gap of six years, during which war raged across Europe, before James returned to the winner’s enclosure and opened his post-war account, appropriately at Bogside in April. Then at Bogside’s two-day January fixture in 1921 he once again rode a winner on consecutive afternoons.  

One notable victory came at Hexham on May 16, 1921, when he partnered the four-year-old Belston Gibby in the three-runner Spittal Handicap Chase. James’s mount fell but he quickly remounted to beat Dun Scotus, who had earlier refused, by 20 lengths, while the 7/4 on favourite Garleton was also a faller. 

James registered an Easter Monday double at Carlisle in 1922, the first leg being the tenth success of his career, thus losing the right to claim an allowance in the process. His final victory was also at Carlisle, on October 19, 1922, when Manly Boy won the Autumn Handicap Hurdle by 20 lengths. The same horse was also his last ride when finishing fifth in the Egerton Handicap Hurdle at Manchester on February 24, 1923. 

James Thomson’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Silver Cap, Bogside, April 18, 1911

2. Bell Toll, Bogside, April 19, 1913

3. Girl Scout, Cartmel, May 12, 1913

4. Girl Scout, Perth, September 26, 1913

5. Portsoy, Hexham, October 8, 1913

6. Miss Mack II, Bogside, April 17, 1920

7. Karnack, Bogside, January 5, 1921 

8. The Cuban, Bogside, January 6, 1921 

9. Belston Gibby, Hexham, May 16, 1921

10. Belston Gibby, Carlisle, April 17, 1922

11. Swindle, Carlisle, April 17, 1922

12. Manly Boy, Carlisle, October 19, 1922