Thomas Carberry

Thomas Carberry, or as he was better known, Tommy Carberry, was involved in racing for many years, but given his family’s connection with the sport, that is hardly surprising. Carberry had success with everything he turned his hand too, he was successful as a jockey before turning his hand to training and doing well with that.

He completed a feat that few have done before when it comes to the Grand National. Carberry rode and won the race as a jockey, then went on to win the race as a trainer afterwards.

Carberry, the trainer, won the race in 1999 with Bobbyjo, a wonderful horse than ended a really rough period for Irish runners in the race. Born on September 15^th, 1941, Carberry had a massive impact on racing, not just by himself but also with what his children went on to do.

To give you an idea of how much the Carberry family are associated with racing, Tommy had six children with his wife. Five of those six went on to be either jockeys or trainers, following in dad’s footsteps, with Paul, Phillip and Nina all performing to a very high standard as jockeys, winning multiple big races.

Sadly, Tommy Carberry passed away aged 75 in 2017.

Full Results

Training Bobbyjo To Win The 1999 Grand National

The 1999 Grand National saw Bobbyjo kick away from the field to win with ease. He was the first Irish-trained runner to win the race for 24 years, and as a coincidence, the last Irish-trained winner was ridden by Tommy Carberry.

Just 32 runners went to post for this contest, declarations were low, and it was quite ironic that the 1999 Grand National was the first to have a maximum field of 40 and reserves waiting to run, but they were not needed this time around.

It was a family affair for the Carberry’s with Tommy’s son Paul doing the steering on Bobbyjo, which no doubt made the day even sweeter. Tommy talked up the chances of Bobbyjo, and the betting market on the day showed just how much the stable liked their contender.

In the morning, you could back Bobbyjo at odds of 25/1. However, the horse was very well backed throughout the morning, and that money continued as the meeting began. By the time the race went off, Bobbyjo had an SP of just 10/1, there was clearly a lot of confidence behind him running well, and no doubt plenty of people associated with the yard will have cashed in.

Tommy Carberry had just four Grand National runners during his training career, it wasn’t a race where he often had a horse capable of being both good enough and capable enough to handle the demands of this unique test. Bobbyjo would come back in 2000, where he finished 11^th trying to defend his title, and that would be the final time we saw a Tommy Carberry-trained runner in the Grand National.

Success As A Jockey

As mentioned, Tommy Carberry was a successful jump jockey before turning his hand to training. 1975 was a special year in his career, where he did what very few riders have ever done before. He won the Grand National aboard L’Escargot, but rather than being remembered for winning the race, the pair are mainly remembered for being the ones to beat Red Rum when he was trying to win his third Grand National.

That wasn’t the only success that Carberry had during 1975, he won two other big races. He won the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Ten Up a month before the Grand National, and that was the third time in his career that he had rode the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner.

The excellent year was rounded off by a third big win, the Irish Grand National, where he rode Brown Lad to victory, and not only that, but the pair would go back to win the Irish Grand National a year later.

Tommy had plenty of big race wins under his belt as a jockey before turning his hand to training, where he had continued success.

Famous Horses Trained By Tommy Carberry

Here are some of the bigger names trained by Tommy Carberry during his career.

Bobbyjo