A horse lover who left Portumna Community College after his Junior Cert to pursue his dream of becoming a top jockey is about to hit the big time – and there isn’t a race track in sight.

Because Tommy Foley is about to be catapulted to international fame on the back of the publication of his life story and his lead role in a new movie that tells the story of one of the greatest racehorses of all time.

Tommy Foley was born in Portland, Lorrha, the son of Danny Foley and his wife Breda Moore, and he went to school in Portumna; first to the National School and then the Community College until Junior Cert when his love of horses proved too strong to ignore.

Tommy left for America in 1997 and has been there since. He was the leading apprentice jockey in America in 2001 and also champion jockey in terms of money won in 2003, even if his successes went largely under the radar on this side of the Atlantic.

But that’s all set to change now, because Tommy – who has ridden winners in Japan and New Zealand as well as the US – has written his biography, entitled The Simple Game: An Irish Jockey’s Memoir which will be published next month by the award-winning American publisher Caballo Press of Ann Arbor.

And on the same day as his biography is published worldwide, Tommy – a jump and flat jockey – will star in Walt Disney Studios’ feature film Secretariat which opens across the globe on October 8.

See full story in this week's Tribune.