Like many a sportsman, Tommy Wyse may have been robbed of a chunk of his career by World War II. Born in Ireland on April 2, 1919, he was 20 when war with Germany was declared in September 1939.
Having said that, racing in Ireland was pretty much unaffected during the war years, while in Britain, Flat racing operated on a severely restricted basis at a few courses and jump racing eventually ceased altogether until the end of hostilities.
Tommy Wyse enjoyed early successes on a two-mile chaser named Glencarrig who won at Limerick Junction on July 11, 1945 and at Waterford & Tramore the following month. He also went close to winning the 1945 Galway Plate, one of Ireland’s most prestigious chases, being beaten half a length on Sun Bird by Danny Morgan’s mount Grecian Victory.
Tommy crossed the Irish Sea later that year and had his first ride in Britain on Acre Valley (unplaced) over hurdles at Wetherby on December 15, 1945 but lack of opportunities saw him return to his homeland after a few months. There he won more races, including the Kingdom Hurdle at Listowel on Singlepeeper in November 1946 and the Directors’ Chase at Waterford & Tramore on Glencarrig in April 1947 and, just as importantly, avoided the severe winter of 1947 that wiped out racing in Britain for almost two months.
He returned the following year and rode his first British winner on Scotch Broth for Verly Bewicke in a two-mile handicap hurdle at Hexham on May 17, 1948. Tommy’s association with Bewicke’s stable proved fruitful, resulting in him riding 15 winners the following season, the highlights being a first double on hurdler Celt and chaser Belligerent at Catterick in February 1949 and a pair of victories on a useful three-mile chaser named Dynovi, including Wetherby’s Godfrey Long Handicap Chase.
He began the 1949/50 campaign with a winner on both days of Perth September fixture, novice chaser Bankshill and handicap hurdler Lone Patrol; notched a Boxing Day double at Sedgefield on selling hurdler Bardic and novice chaser Scotch Broth; won three more times on Scotch Broth, culminating in the Queen Margaret Handicap Chase at Hexham in May; and ended it by winning on Proscenium at Cartmel on Whit Monday, finishing the season with a score of eleven.
He started the following season (1950/51) in similar vein with a double on day two of Perth’s September meeting on Menslaws and Scotch Broth. He won again on Scotch Broth at Hexham in October, although by the end of the season his winning tally had dropped to eight. The 1951/52 campaign again started well with a double on Spangle and Gift Tax at Sedgefield’s September meeting and concluded with success on Proscenium at Hexham in May 1951, giving him a total of seven winners for the season.
Virtually all of Tommy’s British winners up to that had been supplied by Bewicke. With George Milburn and Stan Hayhurst starting to ride more and more of Bewicke’s horses, Tommy found winners harder to come by. He rode just two in 1952/53, the second of which was on Sun Clasp at the annual Cartmel Whitsun fixture on May 25, 1953. That would be his last winner for more than three years.
In 1954 Tommy took out a trainer’s licence, based at the George Hotel Stables, Piercebridge, near Darlington. He maintained his jockey’s licence and continued to ride some of his horses but employed top northern rider Dick Curran when available. The rising star of Tommy’s string was a hurdler named O’Malley Point, on whom he won at Kelso on October 20 and Newcastle (right) on November 2, 1956. However, he relinquished his trainer’s licence not long afterwards, O’Malley Point being moved to newly-established trainer Dick Curran, who switched him to fences and proceeded to win three races on him including Doncaster’s Mansion House Handicap Chase. O’Malley Point was eventually moved again, this time to Arthur Stephenson, who trained him to win Manchester’s Hearts of Oak Chase in 1960 and finish third behind Nicolaus Silver and Merryman II in the 1961 Grand National.
Tommy, meanwhile, joined Denys Smith as head lad and also rode some of the yard’s runners for a few more seasons. Three of his four winners for 1960/61 came on Smith’s novice chaser Royal Port, who also became Tommy’s final winner when landing a two-mile handicap chase at Perth on April 19, 1962.
Tommy Wyse gave up riding in races at the end of the 1962/63 season but continued in his role as Denys Smith’s head lad. He died of a cancer-related illness in January 1998, aged 78.