Stephen Donoghue was born in Warrington, Lancashire, to a non-racing family. He reportedly won a donkey derby and decided to become a jockey, so left home aged just twelve. His first yard was troublesome, but he kept going, moving to Ireland and France.
Back home, in England in 1911, he started picking up the prizes.
And why he is here is that he won the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot for six years in a row with Brown Jack.
Now Brown Jack is a very uninspiring name for a super horse in every way. You can see him on Ogden's "Prominent Racehorses of 1933" as card number 2, and on Player`s "Irish Bred Horses" as card 7.. He was a thoroughbred, equally at home on the flat and over the hurdles, and he came into his own over the longer races, which is why he did so well at the Queen Alexandra Stakes, for they were the longest race in the flat racing calendar. He won those between 1929 and 1934, continuously. He had also won the Cheltenham Champion Hurdle in 1928.
And he has a statue in his honour at Ascot Racecourse.
This set is catalogued in our World Tobacco Issues Indexes as
RACING SCENES. (A). Sm. 68 x 37.
1. Nos. 1/25 – Racing Colours.
2. Nos. 26/50 – Horses, Jockeys, etc.
But there is a far more interesting story here, and we will deal with that tomorrow...