The Galway festival is famous for fun and frivolity but it was shrouded in loss on Tuesday as Irish racing struggled to come to terms with the death of the former top amateur jockey John Thomas McNamara at 41.
The man known throughout racing as ‘JT’ died in the early hours of Tuesday morning at his home near Croom in Co Limerick, leaving devastation for his wife, Caroline, and their children Dylan, Harry and Olivia, but also provoking immense sadness throughout the bloodstock industry.
A minute’s silence was held at Galway before the second race when jockeys gathered in the parade ring to remember their former colleague. All jockeys wore black armbands during Tuesday’s racing.
One of the outstanding amateur jockeys of his generation, McNamara rode over 600 winners and was a multiple point-to-point champion rider. He also produced some of the most memorable winning rides in the Cheltenham festival's modern history.
In a sport that demands resilience, McNamara stood out for his toughness. But his greatest display of courage ultimately came in response to the catastrophic injuries he suffered in a fall at Cheltenham in 2013.
Treatment
Left paralysed from the neck down, he underwent extensive treatment in hospitals in both Ireland and Britain before finally returning home. The scale of his injuries left many who knew him well to marvel at the willpower that allowed him spend that last period of his life at home with his family.
“He was such a good, fun person and he showed his true strength having to deal with this injury over the past few years,” said jockey Barry Geraghty. “If you visited him, before you’d know it an hour had passed. The conversation always flowed and there was never any self pity.”
McNamara’s blunt good humour never wavered, nor his love of racing. Even up to last weekend, he was pre-training horses from his stables, including many for owner JP McManus, in whose colours he enjoyed some of his greatest racecourse moments.
The legendary champion jockey Tony McCoy described McNamara a “remarkable man” and recalled the 2002 Cheltenham-winning ride on Rith Dubh in the National Hunt Chase as being “as good as you will ever see”.
McNamara’s other Cheltenham festival winners were Teaforthree in the 2012 National Hunt Chase, the 2007 Foxhunters on Drombeag and the 2005 Cross-Country Race on Spot Thedifference.
Accident
“It’s a very sad day for Irish racing. JT was a hero to so many people, both in the saddle, and even more so since his accident,” said Brian Kavanagh, chief executive of Horse Racing Ireland.
“Our sympathies go to his family. It puts a cloud over Galway but everyone is thinking of him” he added.
McNamara’s remains will repose at home before removal to St Michael’s Church, Manister, at 8.30 on Thursday. Requiem Mass on Friday is at 11.00.
