Category: Jockeys

Born in Panama City, Panama in December, 1946, Laffit Pincay Jr. rode his first winner, Huela, in his hometown in May, 1964, at the age of 17. However, it was in the United States – to which he travelled, under the auspices of legendary owner/breeder Fred W. Hooper, in 1966 – where he would find his fame. After initially plying his trade in Florida, Chicago and New York, Pincay Jr. settled in California, where he would eventually be recognised as the natural successor to Bill Shoemaker on the West Coast racing circuit. Indeed, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975, at the age of 28.

Shoemaker eventually retired in 1989 with 8,833 winners to his name, thereby setting a world record for career victories that would stand for a decade. However, on December 10, 1999, Pincay Jr., 52, surpassed Shoemaker’s total on Irish Nip at Hollywood Park. Reflecting on his achievement, he said, ‘ The record means a lot because Shoemaker is the greatest jockey I ever rode against. It’s a record I never thought anybody could come close to.’

Pincay Jr. retired in April, 2003, with 9,530 winners to his name. Once again, it was mooted that his own record may never be broken, but it has been, twice, by Canadian Russell Baze, with 12,844 career victories, and Brazilian Jorge Ricardo, with 13,069.

Tom Marquand was born in Cheltenham on March 30, 1998 so, at the time of writing, is 23 years old. Apprenticed to Wiltshire trainer Richard Hannon as a 16-year-old, Marquand rode just one winner – in a lowly selling stakes race at Kempton – in his inaugural season. However, his rise through the ranks was nothing short of meteoric; a little over a year after joining Hannon he was crowned champion apprentice, eventually seeing off Jack Garrity 54-52 on the final day of the 2015 season.

All told, Marquand rode 67 winners in 2015 and a further 63 in 2016, riding out his claim on Scarlet Dragon, trained by Eve Johnson Houghton, in the Pelican Handicap at Newbury on June 30, 2016. In his first season as a fully-fledged professional, he upped his tally to 86 winners, including his first Pattern race winner, Anna Nerium, trained by Hannon, in the Group 3 Dick Poole Stakes at Salisbury on September 7, 2017.

Marquand has ridden over a hundred winners in every season since, achieving a personal best in 2020, with 147 winners. That year, he was ‘jocked off’ Derby second favourite English King, but made amends by finishing second on the 50/1 outsider Khalifa Sat, and won the St. Leger on Galileo Chrome, whom he picked up as a ‘chance’ ride after regular partner Shane Crosse was taken ill. So far, Marquand has six Group 1 victories to his name, four of which have been provided by Addeybb, trained by William Haggas.

Tony McCoy, or Sir Anthony McCoy to give him his full title, called time on his record-breaking career in the saddle after finishing third on the aptly-named Box Office in the bet365 Handicap Hurdle at Sandown Park on April 25, 2015. In the 2014/15 season, as a whole, he rode 231 winners, thereby running away with the Jump Jockeys’ Championship for the twentieth consecutive season and taking his career total to 4,348 winners under National Hunt rules.

Notwithstanding the 1994/95 season, in which McCoy became Champion Conditional Jockey with a then-record 74 winners – losing his right to claim in February, 1995 – he rode at least 140 winners in every season between 1995/96 and 2014/15. McCoy recorded his lowest seasonal total as a professional jockey, 140, in 2014/15. He did, however, suffer a well-publicised back injury, fracturing two vertebrae in a fall at Warwick in January, and had to resort to kriotherapy in order to be fit for the Cheltenham Festival.

Along the way, McCoy passed several notable landmarks. As long ago as the 1997/98 season, he rode 253 winners, thereby beating the previous record for the number of winners in a single National Hunt season, 221, set by Peter Scudamore in 1988/89. In the 2001/02 season, McCoy rode 289 winners, beating the previous record for the number of winners in a single season under either code, 269, set by Sir Gordon Richards in 1947. On August 27, 2002, Mighty Montefalco at Uttoxeter brought up win number 1,700 of his career, making him the most successful jockey, numerically, in the history of National Hunt racing in Britain.