For those looking in from outside as horse racing mourns the loss of JT McNamara at the age of just 41, his description as an “amateur” jockey could suggest that riding horses over fences was what he did in his spare time. Everyone who met him, worked with him or simply backed the horses he rode knew the truth, that McNamara was an outstanding National Hunt jockey, good enough to ride in any race. It was simply his choice to do so for love and not money.
Every jockey, amateur or professional, understands that what they do has risks attached. The risks are, inevitably, greater in National Hunt racing, where every jump could end in a fall, every fall could conceivably mean a serious injury, or worse. And like any experienced jockey, McNamara had hit the ground many, many times and walked away, before he suffered the devastating injury at Cheltenham in March 2013 which fractured two vertebrae and left him paralysed from the neck down.
The fact that McNamara sustained his life-changing injury at the sport’s showpiece event is as irrelevant as the fact that he was not getting paid for taking part. But the huge audience that the Festival attracts ensured that, more than three years later, his name still resonates widely as a reminder of the risks that riders take to sustain a sport that attracts more paying spectators in Britain each year than any bar football.
McNamara’s considerable talent as a horseman gave him the chance to compete, and win, on racing’s grandest stages. His acknowledged status as one of the finest amateurs the sport has seen ensured that he was usually aboard a serious contender, and more often than not in the green and gold colours of JP McManus, always a favourite for the punters at Cheltenham in particular.
McNamara’s ability in the saddle was never more evident than aboard Rith Dubh, a talented but quirky chaser with a well-known reluctance to put his head in front. McNamara offered a masterclass in horsemanship as he coaxed and kidded Rith Dubh to a narrow victory in Cheltenham’s National Hunt Chase in 2002, while he also had few equals around the track’s cross-country course. He steered Spot Thedifference to seven victories over its unique series of obstacles, including one win at the Festival in 2005.
In point-to-points, McNamara was a record-breaker, who set a new mark for career winners with his 414th success in 2006, and continued to extend the all-time record for the next seven years until the moment at Cheltenham that changed his life. It was not until 15 months after his injury that McNamara was finally able to return to his home in Ireland, where he hoped in time to begin a new career as a trainer.
There were many heartfelt tributes to McNamara’s talent as a rider on Tuesday, and also to the courage with which he faced his terrible injury.
“He was every bit as experienced as me and probably as talented as I am,” Tony McCoy, the most successful jump jockey of all, told BBC Radio 5 Live. “He got a fall off a horse called Galaxy Rock at the Festival that I had ridden a few times before. He was a good jumper, it was one of those things, he just landed badly.
“I can remember looking over at his peg where he’d got undressed and seeing his suit hanging up, and thinking, maybe he might not even live, and he’s definitely never going to be back in here again. It’s a memory that will stick with me for ever.
“He was a very tough man, mentally very tough, and has been for the last three-and-a-half years since his accident. I’d hate for him to be looking down at me at this moment in time, because I’m going to cry all morning.”
Mick Fitzgerald, a Grand National winning-jockey who was forced to retire from riding after suffering neck injuries in a terrible fall from L’Ami at Aintree in 2008, also spoke of McNamara’s resilience.
“The only thing I can say about him is he was a real fighter,” Fitzgerald said. “All he ever wanted was to be there for his family, and he just loved being home. The greatest thing of all is he was able to do that for the last few years of his life.
“He’s a real inspiration to a lot of people. Every time I think about him, it makes me smile, and I think that’s the greatest thing you can say about anybody.”
