Donoghue, Stephen (1884–1945), jockey, was born 8 November 1884 at Aikin Street, Warrington, Lancashire, the eldest of three sons and two daughters of an Irish immigrant, Patrick Donoghue, an iron puddler, and Mary, née Mitchell, also of Irish ancestry. He was educated at St Mary's Roman Catholic school in Warrington until the age of twelve, when he started to work half-time at his father's steel works to help with family expenses. His father earned a good wage but lost most of it gambling on horses.
Donoghue was determined to be a jockey, and aged fourteen he played truant and walked to Chester racecourse to meet the famous trainer John Porter to seek employment. Porter told him to return the next day with his father and they arranged for him to go to Porter's stables, at Kingsclere, on trial. After a few months Donoghue was homesick and returned to Warrington to work in a wire works. However, after a fight with a local man he ran away with his younger brother, fearing he had killed the man. They took assumed names and went to work for the famous northern trainer Dobson Peacock of Middleham, Yorkshire. It was here that his horse career really began, but they were forced to move on when local census officials arrived at the stables.
They then joined the stables of Alfred Sadler junior in Newmarket, where Donoghue's training continued, but it was not until he went to France that he actually got race experience, winning his first race in 1905 at Hyères. He returned to England in 1906 to Rathbride Manor. Michael Dawson saw him working and recommended him to Phillip ‘Phillie’ Behan, the Irish trainer at Mountjoy Lodge, Co. Kildare, who contracted him for 1907. He was an instant success, riding about twenty winners in 1907. In 1908 he dethroned John Thompson as top Irish Jockey with forty-six winners.
Donoghue was now in big demand from all the top trainers and owners, but it was the infamous Richard ‘Boss’ Croker (qv) who retained his services. For Croker, he won the 1908 Irish Oaks, on Queen of Peace, and the 1909 Irish Derby on Rhodora. A host of other winners again made him the top Irish jockey in 1909. However, Croker, who had a long history of bust-ups with his jockeys, accused Donoghue of pulling up against the horses of Phillie Behan, whose daughter, Bridget, Donoghue had married in 1908. They parted ways at the end of the 1909 season. Donoghue returned to England to work with Atty Persse at Stockbridge, Hampshire. They formed a formidable partnership, and from 1914 to 1923 Donoghue was ten times champion jockey. During this period he returned to Ireland on a number of occasions winning successive Irish Derbies in 1913 and 1914 and a number of other events. He also won the English Derby a record six times. He won his last classic in 1937, aged fifty-two, when he rode Exhibitionist to victory in the Oaks. He retired that year to become a trainer. In all, he rode 11 Irish classic winners and 14 English classic winners. One of the all-time greatest jockeys, he was a brilliant, fearless horseman, but was also a charismatic figure who was immensely popular. He tried to establish a career as a trainer but had little success and, as his riding career petered out, he supplemented his income by appearing in a number of feature films.
Donoghue was twice married: first, in 1908, to Bridget Behan; this marriage ended in divorce in 1917, following his wife's adultery; second, in 1929, he married Ethel Finn, an American music-hall artiste, and they separated in 1934. He had two sons and one daughter from his first marriage. Between marriages he had conducted an affair with Lady Torrington (the actress Eleanor Souray) from 1917 and through the 1920s. Their high social life – coupled with Donoghue's legendary generosity and extensive gambling – drove both into bankruptcy. He died of a heart attack in London on 23 March 1945. In 1957 gates in his name were erected at the entrance to the Epsom grandstand and his portrait in the royal colours (1923) by Sir John Lavery (qv) hangs in the Royal Scottish Academy.