Born in County Wexford on June 14, 1972, James ‘Jimmy’ Fortune began his riding career as apprentice to Coolcullen trainer Jim Bolger before moving to Britain to join Mike O’Neill. He rode his first winner on British soil, Hitchenstown, trained by Eric Alston, in an apprentices’ handicap at Thirsk on July 29, 1988. The following season, while still a 5lb claimer, he rode 29 winners, including the Ayr Gold Cup winner, Joveworth, trained by O’Neill and the one after rode 47 winners to take the apprentices’ title.
In a riding career spanning four decades, Fortune was, at various points, stable jockey to David Barron, Paul Cole and John Gosden and retained jockey for Jack Ramsden and Robert Sangster. He rode the first of his 16 career Group 1 winners, Commander Collins, owned by Sangster and trained by Peter Chapple-Hyam, in the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster on October 24, 1998. That season, Fortune rode 108 winners, thereby achieving his highest ever position in the jockeys’ championship, joint-fourth.
Fortune has a single British Classic winner to his name, Lucarno, trained by John Gosden, in the St. Leger at Doncaster on Spetemver 15, 2007. Coincidentally, that season proved to be his most successful, numerically, with 110 winners from 717 rides, at a strike rate of 15%. Fortune retired in 2017, aged 45, after the latest in a series of back problems meant that he was unable to maintain the workload required to ride as a freelance jockey. His final ride, Nathra, trained by John Gosden, finished third in the Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket on October 7, 2017. He retired with 1,780 winners to his name, which, at the time, placed him seventh of the current Flat jockeys in Britain.
Aside from Mike O’Neill, Fortune singled out Tony Hind, his agent for 25 years, for special thanks. He said, jokingly, “I think I’m just about the only one of his jockeys who he hasn’t made champion!”
