champion jockey

On a bright autumn afternoon at Ascot, Oisin Murphy raised and then kissed a silver trophy that symbolised the arc of his redemption. Banned for 14 months for twice failing breath tests and misleading the British Horseracing Authority over a trip to Mykonos during Covid, Murphy stood on Champions Day as the embodiment of a fall-and-rise narrative. There are lots of those in sport, and they sure as hell beat the opposite, which is fall-and-stay-fallen. The 2024 Champion Jockey was given a guard of honour by his fellow jockeys and...

Oisin Murphy will officially be named champion Flat jockey in Britain for the fourth time in his career on Saturday. This year the jockeys' championship began on Saturday, May 4 and ends with QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot where Murphy will receive his prize. Before racing at Chelmsford on Thursday, Murphy had ridden 162 winners and held an unassailable lead over his closest pursuers, Rossa Ryan (108) and Tom Marquand (103). The 29-year-old succeeds dual champion jockey William Buick, adding to his three consecutive championship wins in 2019, 2020...

This year marks the 150th anniversary since legendary jockey Fred Archer was first named champion jockey, and a one-off guided tour will be offered on Sept. 4 to celebrate the milestone, Discover Newmarket announced on Wednesday. The tour will investigate the close ties between Archer and Newmarket, with his great granddaughter, Diana Reynolds, providing details on Archer's life. On the tour, there will be a visit of Sir Mark Prescott's yard, Heath House Stables, where Archer began as an apprentice, and a guided visit by trainer James Fanshawe of his...

After lighting up Royal Ascot, a tilt at the Melbourne Cup could be on the cards for Crystal Black (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), with Ireland's reigning champion jockey Colin Keane explaining how the gelding has provided his father "with a new lease of life" after a horror fall in 2021 almost left the trainer paralysed.  The celebrations that followed Crystal Black's victory in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes at Ascot went unrivalled as the Wear A Pink Ribbon Syndicate who own the former Dermot Weld-trained inmate burst into song in the...

Willie Mullins became the first Irish trainer to take the British National Hunt Trainer's crown in 70 years after his El Fabiolo (Fr) (Spanish Moon) ran second to Jonbon (Fr) (Walk In the Park {Ire}) in the G1 bet365 Celebration Chase at Sandown on Saturday. Mullins also saddled winners Minella Cocooner (Ire) (Flemensfirth) and Impaire Et Passe (Fr) (Diamond Boy {Fr}) to win the bet365 Gold Cup Handicap Chase and the G2 bet365 Select Hurdle, respectively during the bet365 Jumps Finale card. Overall, Mullins trained 28 winners to victories in...

Irad Ortiz, Jr., who continued to break earnings records in 2023, won his fourth Eclipse Award as champion jockey Thursday night in Florida. Ortiz, whose mounts earned $39,192,585 last year, rode Eclipse finalists White Abarrio, Elite Power and Goodnight Olive to Breeders' Cup victories in 2023. The Eclipse Award for leading Apprentice Jockey went to Axel Concepcion. The 18-year-old Puerto Rican led apprentice riders in both wins and earnings having ridden the winners of 199 races and earners of $5,179,154. He was also the leading rider at Laurel Park's spring...

The ten-time champion jockey in France sits down in a Deauville restaurant and starts speaking. For 45 minutes, Christophe Soumillon barely draws breath as he outlines in almost evangelical terms his plans to teach children to ride. His dream, of course, in establishing the Soumillon International Pony Academy, is to teach one or more of them to ride as well as he does. On Monday, the Société d'aménagement foncier et d'établissement rural (SAFER), a Normandy organisation charged with preserving green spaces, announced that Soumillon had beaten seven other applicants in...

Paul Hanagan, the former dual champion jockey in Britain, has announced that he will retire from the saddle at York on Friday. The 42-year-old will take one ride at the track in the first race for Richard Fahey, the trainer with whom he has enjoyed a significant portion of his success. Hanagan was crowned champion apprentice in 2002 and eight years later gained the first of his two consecutive championships in the senior ranks, becoming the only jockey based in the north of England to have landed the title more...

It is not unusual to see Group 1-winning jockeys riding work in Newmarket, but it is a less familiar sight to find one riding four lots a day through the depths of winter. That, however, is how South Africa's multiple champion Greg Cheyne has been spending his time since relocating from his native country last August. Cheyne and his wife Claire are both now employed by William Haggas at Somerville Lodge, and the jockey has recently been given the green light by the British Horseracing Authority to resume his race-riding...

William Buick, who has already been crowned champion jockey in Britain for 2022, rounded off a sensational campaign in style by riding 200 British winners in a year for the first time. His 200th victory came at Southwell aboard the odds-on favourite Zealot (GB), trained by Michael Appleby.  Speaking on the Sky Sports Racing channel after the race, Buick said, "I said to Tony [Hind], my agent, six weeks ago when we had 31 winners to go that it was within reach. "Things didn't quite go to plan until today,...

Jockey William Buick, Godolphin and apprentice jockey Benoit de la Sayette were crowned Champion Jockey, Champion Owner and Champion Apprentice Jockey, respectively on QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday. Former champion jockey Willie Carson, who along with the late Sir Henry Cecil was inducted into the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall Of Fame, presented both jockey trophies. Buick, a three-time runner-up (2015, '21 and '21), secured 157 winners, 67 clear of Hollie Doyle and Tom Marquand, his nearest pursuers for the title. A former champion apprentice, a title...

Think of Robin Hood, or the Scarlet Pimpernel. Or even Jesse James. There was a little bit of the Great Outlaw in Lester Piggott: enigmatic, often in trouble, and adored by the people in the street. Lester defied the rules of charisma: very soft voice, never very friendly, always composed, always keeping to himself in public. Ah, but that face, "like a well-kept grave," as somebody said. The intensity of his facial expression was Mount Rushmore-ready--a la Clint Eastwood. When he returned to riding in 1990 (post High Point) and...