Category: Jockeys

Who was the first jockey since Sir Gordon Richards to ride 200 winners in a season?

Hailed by British Pathé as ‘World’s Greatest Jockey!’, Sir Gordon Richards rode 4,870 winners during his career and won the Flat Jockeys’ Championship in 26 occasions between 1925 and 1953. Remarkably, he rode over 200 winners in a season on twelve occasions and twice broke the record for the greatest number of winners in a single season.

In 1932, Richards became stable jockey to Beckhampton trainer Fred Darling and rode 259 during the season, thereby breaking the previous, long-standing record, 246, set by Fred Archer in 1885. Fifteen years later, in 1947 – the year in which Darling retired, to be succeeded at Beckhampton by Noel Murless – Richards broke his own record with 269 winners. That record would stand until 2001/02, when finally broken by Sir Anthony McCoy, who rode 289 winners that season. Reflecting on his extraordinary career, McCoy said, ‘Breaking Sir Gordon Richards’ record will always be my greatest achievement, nothing is even close.’

However, even before McCoy rode his first winner, the first jockey since Sir Gordon Richards to ride 200 winners in a season was, in fact, the late Pat Eddery. In 1990 – the year in which he won the Derby on Quest For Fame for his retainer, the late Khalid Abdullah – Eddery rode 209 winners, en route to the eighth of his eleven wins in the Flat Jockeys’ Championship.

Has a female jockey ever won the Cheltenham Gold Cup?

Has a female jockey ever won the Cheltenham Gold Cup? The simple answer is no, not yet, but until recently female jockeys in the Cheltenham Gold Cup had been few and far between. In fact, the first female jockey to ride in the ‘Blue Riband’ event was the late Linda Griffiths, formerly Sheedy, who failed to complete the course on 500/1 rank outsider Foxbury in 1984. Remarkably, the second was not until 2017, when the now-retired Lizzie Kelly was unseated at the second fence by Tea For Two, although the partnership did return to Cheltenham to finish a distant seventh in 2018.

More recently, the redoubtable Rachael Blackmore has gone closest to becoming the first female jockey to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup. In 2020, she rode Monalee, trained by Henry De Bromhead, to finish fourth, beaten just 1¾ lengths, behind Al Boum Photo. In 2021, having already won the Champion Hurdle on Honeysuckle, for the same trainer, she rode A Plus Tard to finish second, beaten 1¼ lengths, behind stable companion Minella Indo in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. In that same race, Bryony Frost also rode Frodon to finish fifth, albeit 33¾ lengths behind the winner.

When did Lester Piggott ride his first Royal Ascot winner?

In a riding career spanning six decades, Lester Piggott rode 4,493 winners, including 30 English Classic winners and won the Flat Jockeys’ Championship eleven times, including eight years running between 1964 and 1971. Coincidentally, eleven was also the number of times Piggott won the highlight of Royal Ascot, the historic and coveted Gold Cup, including a notable hat-trick on Sagaro in 1975, 1976 and 1977.

Piggott not only remains the most successful jockey in the history of the Gold Cup but, by the proverbial ‘country mile’, the most successful jockey in the history of Royal Ascot. Of course, at various points during his career, Piggott enjoyed profitable associations with such luminaries of the training profession as Sir Noel Murless, Vincent O’Brien and Sir Henry Cecil. Nevertheless, his astonishing record of 116 winners, achieved long before the extension of Royal Ascot to five days in 2005, is unlikely to be beaten.

Piggott rode his first Royal Ascot winner, Malka’s Boy, trained by Walter Nightingall, in the Wokingham Stakes on June 20, 1952, as a 16-year-old, making all the running to win by 3 lengths. For the record, he rode his last Royal Ascot winner, College Chapel, trained by Vincent O’Brien, in the Cork and Orrery Stakes, now the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, on June 17, 1993, at the age of 58. The ‘Long Fella’ retired for the second, and final, time two years later.

Which jockey rode Big Buck’s in the Hennessy Gold Cup?

Owned by the late Andy Stewart and trained by Paul Nicholls, Big Buck’s is best known for winning the Stayers’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival four years running, in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, and is widely recognised as the greatest staying hurdler in history. Winner of the Grade 2 Prix Amadou at Auteil for his original trainer, Rene Lacomte, in May, 2007, Big Buck’s joined Nicholls the following November and was immediately sent over fences.

Big Buck’s opened his account over the larger obstacles at the first time of asking, with a narrow, but ready, win in a four-runner beginners’ chase at Newbury. Later in his novice season, he also won the Grade 2 Mildmay Novices’ Chase at Aintree under Ruby Walsh. Big Buck’s reappeared in the Hennessy Gold Cup – now the Ladbrokes Trophy – at Newbury the following November, for which he was sent off 5/1 joint second favourite.

With Sam Thomas deputising for the injured Walsh, Big Buck’s was only 3 lengths behind eventual winner Madison Du Berlais, and staying on, when blundering badly and unseating his rider at the third-last fence. That mishap proved to be a blessing in disguise; put back over hurdles, Big Buck’s embarked on a winning streak that would last for 18 consecutive races and more than five years. His record stood until April, 2019, when beaten by the recently retired dual Champion Chase winner Altior.

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