Tom Taaffe (b. 15 June 1963) is an Irish racehorse trainer based at Portree Stables, Boston,

Ardclough Ardclough, officially Ardclogh (; ), is a village and community in the parish of Kill, County Kildare, Ireland. It is two miles (3 km) off the N7 national primary road. It is the burial place and probable birthplace of Arthur Guinness, ...

Straffan Straffan (variously ''Teach Srafáin'', ''Strafáin'' or ''An Cluanini'' in Irish) is a village in County Kildare, Ireland, situated on the banks of the River Liffey, 25 km upstream of the Irish capital Dublin. As of the 2016 census, the v ...

, in

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the ...

. He began training in the 1994/95 jumps season, having had a successful career as a professional jump jockey for the Arthur Moore stable. The son of jockey and trainer,

Pat Taaffe Patrick Taaffe (9 March 1930, Dublin - 7 July 1992, Dublin) was an Irish National Hunt jockey who is best remembered as the jockey of Arkle. The pair dominated National Hunt racing in the mid-sixties, winning the Irish Grand National, the King ...

, who famously rode Arkle to a

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 furlongs ...

treble in the 1960s and trained 1974 Gold Cup winner

Captain Christy Captain Christy (foaled 1967) was a champion Irish-bred and Irish-trained hurdler and steeplechaser who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup as a novice. In spite of a tendency to make mistakes, Captain Christy was an outstanding hurdler and one of th ...

, he emulated his father's success by training

Kicking King Kicking King is a National Hunt racehorse trained in Straffan, Co. Kildare, Ireland, by Tom Taaffe. He is best known for his victory in the 2005 Cheltenham Gold Cup, the major Chase run at the Cheltenham Festival. He also won the King Ge ...

to win the same race in 2005. The horse also had back to back wins for Taaffe in the King George VI Chase in 2004 and 2005. Taaffe also trained Ninetieth Minute, who won the

Coral Cup The Coral Cup is a Grade 3 National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run on the Old Course at Cheltenham over a distance of about 2 miles and 5 f ...

at the 2009

Cheltenham Festival 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 Ra ...

. Other notable horses trained by him are Emotional Moment, Solar System (now retired), Tumbling Dice and Secret Native. The yard's jockey of choice is Tom Ryan. Statistics o
Irish-Racing.com
show that Taaffe has had an amazing strike rate of 15% in Ireland since 2001.

References

External links

Tom Taaffe Racing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taaffe, Tom Irish racehorse owners and breeders Irish racehorse trainers Sportspeople from County Kildare Living people 1963 births People educated at Belvedere College