The late John Thomas ‘J.T.’ McNamara, who died at his home in County Limerick on July 26, 2016, at the age of 41, was one of the finest amateur jockeys in the history of National Hunt racing. On March 14, 2013, McNamara suffered a calamitous injury when his mount, Galaxy Rock, fell at the first fence in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival. He fractured the C3 and C4 vertebrae in his neck, which led to him being placed into a medically-induced coma and left him paralysed from the neck down. Three years later, he suffered complications arising from the injury, which ultimately led to his untimely death.
Although officially an ‘amateur’, McNamara blurred the lines between the unpaid and paid ranks. Indeed, at the time of his death, Tony McCoy, the most successful jump jockey in the history of National Hunt racing, said of McNamara, ‘He was every bit as experienced as me and probably as talented as I am.’ One reason the Limerick man chose not to turn professional, although eminently talented enough, was that to do so would require wasting below his natural body weight of 10st 7lb or thereabouts.
Nevertheless, according to Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), McNamara rode 602 winners in the point-to-point sphere, but plenty more under Rules at home and abroad. He was a particularly potent force at Cheltenham, where he rode 16 winners from 64 rides, at a strike rate of 24%, and over £350,000 in prize money. At the Cheltenham Festival, he won the National Hunt Chase twice, on the enigmatic Rith Dubh, trained by Jonjo O’Neill, in 2002, and Teaforthree, trained by Rebecca Curtis, in 2012, the Cross Country Chase on Spotthedifference, trained by Enda Bolger, in 2005 and the Foxhunter Chase on Drombeag, also trained by O’Neill, in 2007. All bar Teaforthree were owned by John Patrick ‘J.P.’ McManus.