Paralysed jockey JT McNamara dies

Tuesday 26 July 2016, 7:41pm

Former leading amateur rider JT McNamara has died aged 41 having spent the past three years paralysed from injuries sustained in a race fall.

McNamara fractured two vertebrae in his neck in the fall at the Cheltenham Festival in 2013 .

Renowned as one of the best amateur riders the sport has ever seen, McNamara partnered more than 600 winners during his career.

"I've just spoken to his wife Caroline and I can confirm JT passed away peacefully during the night," Adrian McGoldrick, senior medical officer for the Irish Turf Club, told Press Association Sport.

McNamara was initially treated in Britain following the fall which left him paralysed from the neck down.

He eventually returned to his County Limerick home last June and had begun to establish a training operation at his Croom yard, although he required constant care.

Andrew Coonan, secretary of the Irish Jockeys Association and a former amateur himself, paid tribute to McNamara's bravery in the face of such serious injury.

"JT had battled very bravely for the last few years of his life," he said.

"It was a very, very tough time for him and his family and to have lost him at this stage is shocking.

"I rode against JT and watched him, and he was an incredibly accomplished rider, one of the best.

"It just serves as a reminder of the dangers the riders put themselves in for our sport. These things don't just happen to the less well-known jockeys, they happen to the best as well."

McNamara is survived by his wife Caroline and children Dylan, Harry and Olivia.

– PAA

Latest News

Prime Thoroughbreds - We have a Host of Leaders in our Team

Tuesday, 29 June 2021

Prime Thor­ough­bred’s cur­rent rac­ing team is putt­ing to­gether quite a re­cord. We have 22 hors­es that have raced in our team at pre­sent. Six­teen of th­ese are win­n­ers in­clud­ing the Stakes win­n­ing trio Ru­bisa­ki, Fituese and Xtreme­time with Miss Di­vine Em and Miss In Charge run­n­ing 4th in Stakes races. This sees a stakes win­n­er to win­n­er ra­tio of 18.75% with a stake’s per­formed to win­n­er ra­tio of 31.25%. Th­ese are ex­cep­tio­n­al fig­ures.   More »

Freedmans land maiden Group One win

Saturday, 27 February 2021

Un­der-rat­ed fil­ly For­bid­den Love has emerged as an au­tumn car­ni­val smokey with a bril­liant per­for­mance to win the Sur­round Stakes at Rand­wick.  More »

Capriccio completes Damian Lane treble

Saturday, 27 February 2021

In a big day for coun­try-trained hors­es, War­r­nam­bool fil­ly Capric­cio has tak­en out the In­glis Dash for Daniel Bow­man.  More »

More news headlines »