Jockeys - W

Tommy Weston

1902 - 1981

Tommy Weston was born on 4th February 1902 in Dewsbury, Yorkshire. He left a Roman Catholic school at the age of 13 to work on the Lancashire-Yorkshire railway where his father was already employed.

Taking his father’s advice a year later, he became an apprentice at the stables of Ned McCormack at Middleham.

He made his racecourse debut on Black Crag at Stockton on 20 October 1917, and rode his first winner, Sally Crag, in an apprentices' race at Newmarket on 2 August 1918.

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One of the first images of Tommy as a jockey, here seen on Corn Sack on a murky afternoon coming in after winning the Markeaton Stakes at the 1919 Derby Autumn Meeting.

Tommy & Service Kit, winners of the 1921 Stewards' Cup.

Tommy unsaddles Lord Derby's Moabite after winning the 1923 Royal Windsor Summer Handicap

Royal Heron & Tommy win the 1923 Robin Hood Stakes at Hurst Park.

Tommy saluted the crowd as he pulled up on Service Kit. The bay 4-year-old colt (by Long Set out of Cat Cleugh) started as a relative outsider at 20/1 odds. Trained by Major V. Beatty and owned by Mr. Joe Baylis (sometimes spelt Bayliss), he carried a light weight of 6 st 12 lb under jockey Tommy. Many racegoers had dismissed him as lacking the class to prevail in such a demanding contest, but he had shown glimpses of speed in prior outings that hinted at untapped potential on his day. This was 19-year-old Tommy's biggest win to date.

Tommy wins the 1922 Great National Breeders' Foal Stakes at Redcar

on Lord Derby's two-year-old Highbrow from Clashgour.

Nottingham: Monday 15 April 1919

So impressed was Steve Donoghue with Tommy's riding of Miss Maud that he recommended him to the Newmarket trainer A Sadler Jr., who was looking for a boy to ride Lord Jersey's Arion at 6 st 12 lb in the Kempton Park Jubilee Handicap. Tommy took the ride and won by six lengths.

Tommy on Tranquil, winner of the 1923 St Leger. This was the first of his eleven Classic winners.

September 12 1923.

Tommy & Tranquil

after the 148th running

of the St Leger.

Tranquil becomes the first filly to win the St Leger since Pretty Polly in 1903.

A bay filly foaled in 1920, she was sired by Swynford out of the dam Serenissima (by Minoru).

Tranquil was owned by the 17th Earl of Derby (Edward Stanley) and trained by Charles Morton.

There is surviving footage of the race: a short newsreel clip from British Pathé (available on YouTube)

shows the 1923 St Leger race, Tranquil's victory, and her being led into the winner's enclosure.

The field round Tattenham Corner in the 1924 Epsom Derby

The 1924 Derby took place on June 4.

The race is particularly remembered for its atrocious weather — often described as some of the worst conditions ever recorded at Epsom. It was extremely wet and dismal, with heavy rain turning the track into a muddy, spongy quagmire. Despite this, it drew a record attendance, as the event remained a major social and sporting occasion.

The winner was Sansovino, a bay colt bred and owned by Edward George Villiers Stanley, the 17th Earl of Derby (whose family name had inspired the race's original title back in 1780, though no horse from the Derby family had won it in 137 years prior). This victory was a hugely popular and symbolically satisfying one for Lord Derby, fulfilling a long-held ambition.

Just before the 1924 Derby, Tommy Weston caught his white scarf in the top button of his racing top. After winning the Derby that year on Sansovino, he realized it was a lucky sign and the famous ‘lucky white button’ has remained part of the colours ever since.

Winners Sansovina & Tommy are feted on their return. From the moment they took the lead at Tattenham Corner, Sansovino's success was assured. He won very easily by six lengths.

Sansovino excelled in the mud where many others struggled, and his win was celebrated widely — contemporary accounts note it as a highlight of the sporting year, with newsreels and Pathé footage capturing the event (including slow-motion shots of the finish).

October 1924: Lord Derby's Pharos wins Kempton's Duke Of York's Handicap, with Tommy looking round. Pharos won by three lenghts from outsider Bucks Yeoman with Verdict the same distance away in third. The photo on the right shows Pharos being led in - in the background are Lord Derby, Lord Stanley and the Hon. George Lambton.

Chester: May 1925. Established in 1907 and restricted to three-year-olds from 1959, the race is a key Derby trial - Papyrus won it in 1923, and went on to win the Derby that same year. Vermilion Pencil and Tommy sauntered home by fifteen lengths in 1925. Unraced as a two-year-old and soundly beaten in its only two races since, Vermilion Pencil was a shock winner.

Tommy's good fortune that year continued when winning the 1925 Ascot Stakes on Mandelieu for Lord Derby.

Tommy won his third Classic race when Colorado took the Two Thousand Guineas, beating the strongly-fancied Coronach by five lengths.

Tommy & Herbalist: winners of the 1927 Victoria Cup at Hurst Park.

A great action shot from May, 1927, as Tommy holds on by a neck from All's Blue at Kempton Park in the Stewards Plate.

The 149th running of the Oaks took place on Friday June 3 1927. The race was run in 2:34 3/5 (or recorded as 2:34.6 in some sources) — this set a new race record at the time for the Oaks distance at Epsom, beating the previous best and standing for many years (it wasn't bettered until the 1980s in some records, though later surpassed).

Beam (foaled 1924, bay filly by Galloper Light out of Mistrella) had a relatively short but notable racing career, primarily as a three-year-old in 1927. She raced exclusively at ages two and three, retiring at the end of her Classic season.Her overall record was 9 starts: 4 wins, 1 second, 1 third (with the remaining 3 unplaced)

Border Minstrel (Tommy up) wins the 1927 Pitman's Derby

Beam gave Tommy his fourth win in a Classic race. Beam won impressively from Book Law (owned by Lord Astor, who finished second), marking a notable achievement in what was a competitive renewal. The filly was bred in Britain and represented a classic success for her connections. Beam's Oaks triumph was the highlight of her career; she didn't go on to win further major Classics but was remembered for that record-setting performance on the historic downs.

Run on June 8, 1928, Tommy won the 150th running of the Oaks on the bay filly, Toboggan, which led throughout in a front-running performance that showcased her stamina over the demanding Epsom course. Post-Oaks, Toboggan added further wins in the Coronation Stakes (at Royal Ascot) and the Jockey Club Stakes (at Newmarket in October). She earned over £25,000 in prize money—a substantial amount at the time. However, she suffered tendon trouble after her final race, leading to an early retirement at the end of her three-year-old campaign.

Tommy won the 1928 St Leger on Fairway.

Fairway started as the clear 7/4 favorite despite pre-race concerns about his stamina (as a son of the sprinter-like Phalaris, some doubted he could handle the full St Leger distance). He proved those doubts wrong with a strong, authoritative performance. He won by 1½ lengths from Palais Royal II (second at 100/6 odds), with Cyclonic a further length back in third. The winning time was 3:03.00, a solid but not record-breaking effort on the day. This win capped a dominant three-year-old campaign for Fairway, who also took the Newmarket Stakes and Champion Stakes later that autumn. Overall, Fairway raced 15 times in his career (1927–1929), winning 12 races, including top-level successes at two (e.g., Middle Park Stakes), three, and four (repeating in the Champion Stakes). He earned over £42,000 in prize money—a huge sum then—and was champion at two, three, and four in Britain.

Newmarket, May 8, 1930. One Thousand Guineas. The race was won by Fair Isle, a bay filly foaled in 1927, bred and owned by the 17th Earl of Derby (Edward Stanley). She was sired by the influential Phalaris out of the dam Scapa Flow (by Chaucer), making her a full sister to notable horses like Fairway (a top-class colt who won the 1928 St Leger and other major races). Fair Isle was trained by Frank Butters at the Stanley House stable and ridden by jockey Tommy Weston. She started as the 7/4 favourite and won by a short head in a time of 1:42.00 (or approximately 1 minute 42 seconds). The race was closely contested, with a field of 19 runners. The prize money was around £5,050 (a significant sum equivalent to roughly £300,000+ in modern terms adjusted for inflation). Winning three from five races in 1929, Fair Isle was rated the top juvenile filly of that year.

Epsom. May 31 1933. Hyperion and Tommy won the Derby in 2 minutes 34 seconds — this set a new course record for the Derby at the time. Hyperion, bred by Lord Derby himself, was a relatively small horse (often described as one of the smallest Derby winners since the 19th-century horse The Little Wonder), but he proved exceptional. He had already won the Chester Vase earlier that season and went on to complete the British Classic "Autumn Double" by taking the St Leger Stakes later in 1933. His overall record as a three-year-old was outstanding, and he retired with 9 wins from 13 starts.

Doncaster. St Leger. Hyperion dominated the race, leading from an early stage and winning with impressive ease. Reports called it a "one-horse race," with the Derby winner proving far superior to his rivals, including winners of major races like the Irish Derby and French Derby equivalents who trailed behind. A crowd of around 300,000 attended, reflecting the huge public interest in seeing if the small but brilliant Hyperion could add the St Leger to his Derby triumph—it was the 26th time a Derby winner had also taken the St Leger.

Newmarket May 29 1936. The Epsom Oaks. Lovely Rosa, an Irish-bred bay filly foaled in 1933, sired by Tolgus out of the dam Napoule, was a surprise winner at 33-1. She was trained by Harry Cottrill and owned by the prominent South African mining magnate and racehorse owner Sir Abe Bailey. The field consisted of 17 runners. Lovely Rosa is best remembered for this classic win, though her overall racing career was not exceptionally long or dominant beyond it. She later became a broodmare before her death in 1951.

Tommy Weston’s classic wins:

Two Thousand Guineas: Colorado (1926) and The Happy Knight (1946)

One Thousand Guineas: Fair Isle (1930),

The Derby: Sansovino (1924) and Hyperion (1933)

The Oaks: Beam (1927), Toboggan (1928) and Lovely Rossa (1936)

St Leger: Tranquil (1923), Fairway (1928(

Hyperion (1929)

Newmarket. May 1, 1948: Two Thousand Guineas. The race was part of the first full post-war Classic season after wartime disruptions and restrictions had affected racing in the early 1940s. Happy Knight, a bay colt born in 1943, was a 28-1 outsider going into the race. He had shown little as a two-year-old (unplaced in his sole start in 1945) but produced a stunning performance on his seasonal debut. Ridden by Tommy Weston, trained by Henri Jelliss, and owned by Sir William Cooke, he won emphatically by four lengths from the Aga Khan's Khaled (second), with Radiotherapy (owned by Mr. T. Lilley) a head further back in third. Another notable runner was the American-bred Gulf Stream, who was heavily fancied but finished fourth. Despite the Guineas win, Happy Knight never recaptured that peak form. His only other run as a three-year-old was in The Derby at Epsom (June 1946), where he ran poorly and finished unplaced—possibly due to the step up in distance or other factors. He was moved to trainer George Todd's stable at Manton for 1947 but achieved little success that year. He did win two minor races as a five-year-old in 1948. Overall, his career was brief and inconsistent beyond that one big day. Retired to stud in 1949 at Sir William Cooke's Wyld Court Stud in Berkshire, Happy Knight had minimal impact as a sire. He produced no notable Classic winners or major stallions, and his influence faded in pedigrees. He was euthanised on September 19, 1963.

Tommy headed the list of winning jockeys in 1926, but that was the year Sir Gordon Richards fell ill and did not ride.

Tommy Weston lost his job at the stable in 1934 when he failed to get on with George Lambton’s successor (the oddly named Colledge Leader). Leader and Tommy had rowed over the legendary Hyperion’s unexpected defeat in the Ascot Gold Cup. Weston retired in 1950 and continued to live in Newmarket.

For all his success - he rode a total of 1,455 winners - he had been no more than a good jockey, but he had been a very lucky one, always seemingly in the right place at the right time. He had served with great credit in the Royal Navy during the Second World War and had survived when the ship, The Empress of Canada, went down off the coast of Singapore.

During the Second World War, Tommy Weston was stationed at Ebrington Barracks in Londonderry. Opposite the barracks was a café called The Classic. Many famous people took coffee there, including a naval officer called Donald Campbell (of Bluebell fame) and Ivor Novello, who would play the café piano. Tommy Weston was a close friend of George Formby, the entertainer, who himself was once an apprentice jockey. Tommy taught George all he knew.

Tommy Weston did not enjoy his retirement. His money quickly ran out and the popular jockey was penniless when he died in Ely hospital on January 22, 1981. He was 78.

Tommy won the 1927 Eclipse on Cap-a-Pie.

Years later, at Folkestone racecourse, the old horse was being auctioned, its racing days over. Only a harsh life awaited it now, perhaps pulling a cart or, worse, being taken abroad. Tommy recognises his old friend and makes a successful bid.

£26. 5s. The horse is his!

Tommy leads the horse away and has it painlessly destroyed.

His auction was but one more step towards an ignoble end, but he had found one friend who put his death before dishonour.

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