Jim Culloty is a racehorse trainer and retired professional National Hunt jockey who won both the
Cheltenham Gold Cup
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse in England, over a distance of about 3 miles 2½ furlon ...
and
Grand National
The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Aintree, Merseyside, England. First run in 1839, it ...
in the same season.
Culloty and Mick Fitzgerald both worked for Jackie Retter, who trained at Whitstone, near Exeter, before they went their separate ways, Culloty to work for
Henrietta Knight while Fitzgerald went with
Nicky Henderson
Nicholas John Henderson (born 10 December 1950) is a British racehorse trainer. He has been British jump racing Champion Trainer six times.
Background
His father was Johnny Henderson who was one of the founders of the Racecourse Holdings Tr ...
.
Culloty rode forty-four winners as an amateur during the 1996 racing season, after which he turned professional. Throughout his career he won 394 races.
He is most associated with two horses,
Best Mate and
Bindaree, winning three consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cups on the former, and in 2002 going on to win the Grand National on the latter. He later became only the 4th person ever to ride and train a horse to the
Cheltenham Gold Cup
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse in England, over a distance of about 3 miles 2½ furlon ...
when training
Lord Windermere under jockey
Davy Russell
David Niall Russell (born 27 June 1979) is an Irish retired National Hunt jockey. He was Irish jump racing Champion Jockey three times, and won the Grand National (twice), the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris.
Childho ...
.
Culloty retired in July 2005, not long after Best Mate had suffered a fatal heart attack while being ridden by
Paul Carberry. Today he runs the J H Culloty racing stables at Mount Corbitt House in
Churchtown,
County Cork
County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...
,
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. and lives in
Somerby, Leicestershire with his three children. He volunteers as Clerk of the Course
at
Garthorpe Racecourse, near
Melton Mowbray
Melton Mowbray () is a market town in the Borough of Melton, Melton district in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, Leicestershire, River Eye, known below Melton as the Rive ...
, for four point-to-point meetings each year.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Culloty, Jim
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
British racehorse trainers
Irish jockeys
Lester Award winners