Churchill’s jockey dies

Dec 4 2008 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

A LANARKSHIRE man who became jockey for Sir Winston Churchill has died aged 82.

New Lanark-born Tommy Gosling passed away at his home in France on Sunday.

Gosling was a message boy for Lipton the Grocer in Lanark and a petrol pump attendant at Ferguson’s Garage at the Wellgatehead, Lanark, before moving to well-known trainer Captain Ossie Bell’s stables in England.

Prior to his move down south, the Lanark Boys’ Brigade member received the King’s Medal for saving a boy in the River Clyde.

Gosling tied with Frankie Durr as the prestigious apprentice jockey of the year in 1945 but he is perhaps better known for riding Sir Winston Churchill’s five-year-old grey Colonist II to victory in the Winston Churchill Stakes at Hurst Park in 1951.

He repeated that feat at the East Molesey track in 1961, riding Churchill’s High Hat.

During his racing days Tommy was the only Scotsman among the front-running jockeys, and spent nearly all his professional life in the south of England, prior to moving to France.

Big race victories included winning the Victoria Cup and the Cambridgeshire on Fairly Fulmar and on Royal Tara in the Jubilee Handicap at Kempton Park.

In 2006 Tommy Gosling was inducted into the Clydesdale District Sports Hall of Fame in recognition of his excellent achievements in horse racing.

In that same year he presented the Tommy Gosling Trophy to Clydesdale Sports Council, to be presented annually to a local individual or team in recognition of excellent achievements or contributions in equestrian sport.

Millar Stoddart of Clydesdale Sports Council said: “As a youngster in Lanark I heard many ‘Lanarkians’ talking about Tommy, and it is only in recent years through his induction to the Clydesdale Sports Hall of Fame and the Tommy Gosling Award that I have had the privilege to converse with him, often by telephone, and receive many invitations to visit him in France.

“Last January I had my flight booked to visit Tommy, however I had to cancel this commitment at short notice.

“Prior to the summer holidays this year I was in France with a group and phoned him. I was, again, invited, but due to commitments was unable to go and promised to visit at a later date.

“Unfortunately this opportunity is not now available, and it is a big regret.

“Tommy always enquired how his old friends in Lanark were getting on and they,along with his relatives inthe Clydesdale area, will be sorry to hear of his sudden death.”

Tommy is survived by his wife and three sons, who are based in England.