27 November 2009 Tom Oates retires
by Carolyn Tanner
TOM OATES: aboard Chester Ridge at Alnwick in March 2009
photo: Grace Beresford
Leading Northern area rider Tom Oates has hung up his boots, mainly due to pressure of work
"It was a very hard decision," he admitted, "but the business is expanding and I've not been getting home until 7pm most days so I've had little time to go to the gym, and I don't want to do it half-heartedly."
Tom is a partner in the land agency business, George F White, and it is George himself, well known in the area as a successful owner-trainer, who Tom says has been his greatest supporter. His grandfather, Will Oates, after whom his Point winner Wills Perk was named, was a huge inspiration to him, and he cites former top rider Kevin Anderson as someone who helped him a great deal.
He considers that it has been a real privilege to ride in the Walton colours, although he may have thought otherwise on one occasion. "Jimmy phoned to ask me to go and sit on a horse for him," he recalled, "and when I got there he said ‘It's never jumped a fence in its life, and it's running on Saturday!' I was sh***ing myself going to the first!" The horse in question turned out to be Garden Feature, on whom Tom won several times between the flags.
He has no hesitation, though, in naming the Brewis family's ill-fated Alpacca as the best he has ever ridden. The six-year-old won his Maiden in 2003 to great acclaim, but was never able to fulfil his obvious potential, as he tragically broke a leg next time out.
Tom has an Aintree record for which most jockeys would give their eye teeth. His two rides in the Fox Hunter Chase yielded a fourth on Coole Abbey and a fifth on Howayman. He recorded six successes in Hunter Chases to go with his 55 in Points, the first of which was on Sky Missile at Alnwick in 1997, and was area champion in 2003.
He has had his share of injuries, and in three consecutive years left Corbridge in an ambulance after a mishap at the same obstacle on each occasion. "The following season I was walking the course while a guy in a slurry tanker was watering," he said. "I tried to bribe him to break the fence down, but it didn't work!"
Tom is a believer in putting back into the sport what he got out of it, and he and his wife Coco, who is a qualified clerk of the course (she earned her credentials in 2008 while working at Kelso racecourse), are looking after the ground at Alnwick. Coco, though, is currently otherwise occupied, as she gave birth to the couple's first child, Kitty, on September 17th.
There are advantages in retirement, however difficult it can be to make the decision. "As I've got older I've been a big believer in small saddles," Tom laughed, "so now I can get fat, which is great!" And he hasn't given away his kit just yet. "I'll probably leave it in the cupboard for a year or so," he mused, "just in case."
