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Tom Scudamore (born 22 May 1982) is a retired third-generation British flat and steeplechase jockey. He is the son of eight-time champion jockey Peter Scudamore; his grandfather Michael won the Grand National on Oxo in 1959. [1]
Scudamore grew up in the tiny village of Naunton, Gloucestershire, which is deep in the heart of British jump racing. He has been riding since the age of two. [2] Scudamore was educated at Cheltenham College Junior School, and then Cheltenham College. Although Tom began riding as a jockey whilst still at Cheltenham College, there was always an educational back-up; he obtained two A-levels while maintaining a busy training schedule.
At 5'8" tall and 9 stone 12 lbs. (138 lbs.), Scudamore's first flat win was on Nordic Breeze at Warwick in July 1998. His first steeplechase win was aboard Young Thruster at Newton Abbot Racecourse in November of the same year. He was British amateur champion jockey in 2001 (riding his first Grand National that year as an amateur, on Northern Starlight). Scudamore turned professional in October 2001, winning his first professional race at Chepstow Racecourse on Belle d'Anjou that month. Notable wins are the Ladbroke Hurdle on Desert Air, the Red Square Gold Cup aboard Heltornic, the Eider Chase on Nil Desperandum and the VC Casino Gold Cup aboard Madison Du Berlais. In 2013–2014, he amassed 100 wins. In 2014-15 he rode 150 winners. Riding first for trainer Martin Pipe, from March 2007 Scudamore was stable jockey for Martin's son David Pipe in Nicholashayne, Devon. He rode 1,499 winners over jumps in Britain and Ireland, and at the time of his retirement was tenth on the all-time jump jockeys winners' list. [3]
Scudamore announced his retirement with immediate effect on 17 February 2023 after being unseated at Leicester from Ya Know Yaseff, who is trained by Scudamore's long-term ally David Pipe. The incident came shortly after suffering from a concussion in fall two weeks earlier at Chepstow. [3]
He became engaged to Charlotte Stucley, daughter of Sir Hugh and Lady Stucley, and the couple married in 2005. They had their first daughter, Margot, in September 2006 and their second daughter, Myrtle, in May 2008.
Charlotte and Tom separated in February 2017.
Arkle was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. A bay gelding by Archive out of Bright Cherry, he was the grandson of the unbeaten flat racehorse and prepotent sire Nearco. Arkle was bred by Mary Baker of Malahow House, near Naul, County Dublin, and was born at Ballymacoll Stud, County Meath. He was owned by Anne Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster, who named him after the mountain Arkle in Sutherland, Scotland, that bordered her Sutherland estate. Trained by Tom Dreaper at Greenogue, Kilsallaghan in County Meath, Ireland, he was ridden during his steeplechasing career by Pat Taaffe.
The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Racecourse in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. It usually coincides with Saint Patrick's Day and is particularly popular with Irish visitors.
Sir Anthony Peter McCoy, commonly known as AP McCoy or Tony McCoy, is a Northern Irish former National Hunt horse racing jockey. Based in Ireland and the UK, McCoy rode a record 4,358 winners, and was Champion Jockey a record 20 consecutive times, every year that he was a professional.
Paul Frank Nicholls is a British National Hunt horse trainer with stables at Ditcheat, Somerset. A relatively successful jump jockey, Nicholls has become the leading National Hunt trainer of his generation, finishing the 2007–08 season with 155 winners and a record £4 million in prize money. To date, he has trained over 3000 winners, won the 2012 Grand National, four Cheltenham Gold Cups and has been crowned British jump racing Champion Trainer thirteen times.
Gordon Elliott is a County Meath-based National Hunt racehorse trainer. After riding as an amateur jockey, he took out a trainer's licence in 2006. He was 29 when his first Grand National entry, the 33 to 1 outsider Silver Birch, won the 2007 race. In 2018 and 2019 he won the Grand National with Tiger Roll, ridden by Davy Russell and owned by Gigginstown House Stud, the first horse since Red Rum to win the race twice. In 2018 he also won the Irish Grand National, with General Principle. On two occasions, in 2017 and 2018, he was the top trainer at the Cheltenham Festival.
Nicholas John Henderson is a British racehorse trainer. He has been British jump racing Champion Trainer six times.
Richard Johnson is a retired English National Hunt jockey. Johnson is the second most prolific winner in the history of National Hunt Racing behind Sir Anthony McCoy, a long-time rival of Johnson's, with over 3500 winners. Richard Dunwoody previously held the record with 1874.
Denman was an Irish-bred National Hunt racehorse sired by Presenting. Known as The Tank, Denman was widely known for his great rivalry with Kauto Star for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. This large horse with a front-running style won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2008.
Paul Carberry is a retired Irish National Hunt jockey.
Timothy James Murphy, known as Timmy Murphy, is a retired Irish jockey who competed mostly in National Hunt racing. A multiple Grade 1-winning rider, he is best known for his victory on Comply or Die in the 2008 Grand National. He overcame problems with alcohol, which had led to a prison sentence after a drunken incident on a plane in 2002, to resume a successful career and win the 2005 jump jockey of the year Lester Award. He won the Irish Grand National on Davids Lad in 2001, and the Scottish Grand National on Merigo in 2010 and 2012. He had eight winners at the Cheltenham Festival, the first in 1997 and the last in 2009. He recorded his 1000th win in Britain in 2010. Following an injury in a fall in 2010 he was unable to regain his licence to ride over jumps and switched codes, riding on the flat from 2015 until 2018, when he retired from race riding.
David Pipe is a horse racing trainer based in Somerset. He is the son of 15 time champion trainer Martin Pipe.
Campbell Gillies was a Scottish National Hunt jockey most notable for his victory on Brindisi Breeze in the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle at the 2012 Cheltenham Festival. In total, he rode 131 winners in his career, mainly for top Scottish trainer Lucinda Russell and was widely considered by pundits and fans alike as one of the leading young jockeys in the UK.
Silviniaco Conti was a French-bred, British-trained Selle Français racehorse who competed in National Hunt races. After winning several important races over hurdles he emerged as a leading long-distance steeplechaser in 2012. After winning both his races in his native country, the horse won his first three races in England, culminating with a success in the two and a half mile Ascot Hurdle. After running poorly over shorter distances he was ruled out of a bid for the Champion Hurdle and was switched to steeplechasing. In his first season as a chaser he won the Mildmay Novices' Chase and finished second in a strong renewal of the Feltham Chase. In the 2012/2013 season he won the Charlie Hall Chase, Betfair Chase and Denman Chase and in the following season he was rated the best jumper in Britain and Ireland after wins in the King George VI Chase and Betfred Bowl. In the 2014/2015 season he recorded repeat victories in the Betfair Chase, King George VI Chase and Betfred Bowl but failed when favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. In the following season he was beaten in his first three races but returned to form in February to win the Grade One Ascot Chase by 20 lengths.
Bryan Cooper is an Irish National Hunt jockey and is the son of trainer Tom Cooper and his mother is Geraldine Cooper née O'Brien. Cooper was born in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland and in his short career to date has scored notable wins at the National Hunt Cheltenham Festival.
Granville Again was an Irish-bred racehorse who competed in National Hunt races and recorded his most important win in the 1993 Champion Hurdle. In his early career he won two of his three National Hunt Flat races and was a successful Novice Hurdler, winning the Dovecote Novices' Hurdle and Top Novices' Hurdle as well as finishing second in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle. In the 1991/1992 season, Granville Again won all five of his completed races including the Champion Hurdle Trial and the Scottish Champion Hurdle but fell when second favourite for the Champion Hurdle. In the following season he was beaten in his first three starts but returned to his best form to defeat a strong field in the Champion Hurdle. He never won again and failed to finish in the first three in his last ten races. He was retired from racing in 1996 and died in 2003 at the age of seventeen.
Many Clouds was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 2015 Grand National. After being sold as a foal, he was sent to England and trained for a National Hunt racing career by Oliver Sherwood.
Thistlecrack is a British Thoroughbred racehorse who competes in National Hunt races. Unraced until he was five years old, he recorded his first win in a National Hunt Flat race in 2014. In the 2014/15 National Hunt season he won two minor hurdle races before improving when tried over long distances and winning the Grade 1 Sefton Novices' Hurdle. In the following season he established himself as the best staying hurdler in Britain with wins in the Long Distance Hurdle, Long Walk Hurdle, Cleeve Hurdle, World Hurdle and Liverpool Hurdle. When switched to steeplechasing in the following season he made an immediate impact, taking the Worcester Novices' Chase before beating more experienced horses in the King George VI Chase. His later career was beset by injury problems and he never won again, being retired from racing in March 2021 at the age of thirteen.
Limber Hill was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1956 Cheltenham Gold Cup. He was owned and bred by James Davey and trained in Yorkshire by Bill Dutton. After racing on the point-to-point circuit he then ran over hurdles before becoming a steeplechaser in 1954. He made an immediate impact and won the National Hunt Handicap Chase at the end of his first season. In the 1955/56 National Hunt season he was the leading staying chaser in Britain winning both the King George VI Chase and the Cheltenham Gold Cup. He continued to race until 1958 but his later career was disrupted by injury and he never recovered his best form.
One For Arthur is an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who competes in National Hunt racing. In 2017 he became the second horse trained in Scotland to win the Grand National.
Native River is an Irish-bred, British-trained, Thoroughbred racehorse who races under National Hunt rules. He is a specialist long-distance steeplechaser known for his front-running style and apparently inexhaustible stamina. He won three minor hurdle races but began to show better form in the 2015/16 when taking the Worcester Novices' Chase and the Mildmay Novices' Chase. He emerged as a top-class steeplechaser in the following season when he won the Hennessy Gold Cup, Welsh Grand National and Denman Chase as well as finishing third in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. In the spring of 2018 he won a second Denman Chase before recording his biggest win in the 2018 Cheltenham Gold Cup.
