Jason Titley's spectacular triumph in this year's Aintree Grand National revived almost forgotten memories of another Clare jockey whose success in the world's greatest steeplechase sixty five years earlier was overshadowed by his strange and tragic death in wartime London.

Tommy Cullinan who rode "Shaun Goilin"to victory in the 1930 Grand National and Shannon's Jason Titley were reared seventy years and a few miles apart into the hearland of Clare horseracing country.

But while Titley's 1995 victory on "Royal Athlete" has brough him worldwide recognition, Tommy Cullinan's achievement has very nearly been obscured by the passage of time.

Even the circumstances of his death have remained shrouded in mystery--despite the fact that his Grand National win was only one of the highlights of his remarkable career.

In fact it was only through contact with his closest living relative that The Clare Champion was finally able to penetrate the mystery surrounding the fatal shooting of one of the county's greatest sporting heroes more than half a century ago.

Tommy Cullinan's remarkable story has its beginnings in Feighmore House, Carraghan, near Quin, where he was born into a family of boys and a girl sometime around 1904. His father, known locally as Major Cullinan, was a noted amateur jockey and served as Clare County Sheriff from his offices at Bindon Street in Ennis.

But it was his mother's brother, Capt. Brady Brown, the colourful Master of the Clare Hounds, who provided the early inspiration for the young jockey from Quin. The Brady Brown legend also had a tragic twist when he died from a heart attack during the 1937 Clare Grand National in Clonmoney and his memory is perpetuated by the Members Race for the Brady Brown Cup at the Clare Point-to-Point meeting on Easter Sunday.

It was the same Capt. Brady Brown who introduced the young Tommy Cullinan to Dr. Howard's riding school on the Gort Road outside Ennis where an entire generation of Clare jockeys learned the basic skills of horsemanshipo. It had all the informality of a popular assembly point for daredevil youngsters and it was there that the future Grand National winners revelled in the less than respectful nickname of "Glass Arse".

It was to prove a valuable training ground and by 1927 the name T.B. Cullinan was at the top of the list of Irish amateur riders. The lure of the paid ranks was to draw the young Quin man to England where he enjoyed almost immediate success winning the 1928 Irish Grand National with "Don Sancho" before partnering "Easter Hero" and "Brown Tony" to Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle success in 1929 and 1930.

But it was in the Aintree Grand National that Tommy Cullinan rode into sporting history. He finished second aboard "Billy Barton" in the 1928 National which is remembered to this day for "Tipperary Tim" and his shock 100/1 victory.

And then came the greatest success of all in 1930 when he lost his ride on "Easter Hero" only find his own fairytale ending with the 100/8 chance "Shaun Goilin".

That year's National went National went down in the record books as a relatively fast race and "Shaun Goilin" made little of his 11« stone handicap to complete the gruelling course in 9 minutes and 40 seconds--a full 20 seconds faster than the 1994 winner.

Tommy Cullinan's success story wasn't to end just then and on the following day he rode "Kakushin" to victory in the Champion Steeplechase to complete a rare Aintree double.

Back home, his Aintree victory was the cause of major celebration and provided a historic link with the success of "Shannon Lass", the winner of the 1902 Grand National which was bred and trained by Reidy's of Rineanna on the site of the present day Shannon Airport runway.

And from there on, Tommy Cullinan seems to have faded from the pages of sporting history.

He was regular attender at the Clare Hunt Point-to-Point and, with his immediate family based in England, his last meeting his Clare relatives was at Tuam in 1937 when he recalled his earlier sporting successes with his cousin, Freddy Brown, whose father died in the Clare Grand National of that year.

In fact it was Freddy Brown, now 74 years of age, and retired from his drapery business in Longford Town who outlined the little known circumstances of Tommy Cullinan's tragic death in England during the early years of the Second World War.

With his career in decline, the former sporting hero drifted into the British Army around 1930. A year later while stationed outside London, he was "out on the town" in the company of another former professional jockey and, on their return to barracks, they were challenged by a sentry.

Called upon three times to identify himself, the Quinman failed to respond and was fatally shot by the watchman who was subsequently exonerated by a military inquiry for his part in the tragedy.

It was a sorry ending to what should have been a lifetime lived out in the glow of a magnificent sporting career.

But even if his remarkable achievements have been eroded by the passage of time, Tommy Cullinan's Grand National triumph still lives on--like the ghost of a forgotten legend guiding the way for another Clare triumph at Aintree a lifetime later.

A Man and His Horse

Tommy Cullinan and Shaun Goilin's victory in the 1930 Grand National is recalled in this rare photograph which was taken outside the Aintree Racecourse stables after their historic triumph.

Feighmore House, where Tommy was reared with his brother Jack and sister, Nellie, was sold to the late Martin Quigney on his return from the United States. His son, Sean Quigney, is the present owner of the now abandoned building which is listed in Hugh Weir's book "The Great Houses of Clare".

Tommy Cullinan's uncle, Capt. Brady Brown was Master of the Clare Hunt and lived in the Newgrove Estate near Tulla.

see photograph