What was Tony McCoy’s lowest seasonal total as a professional jockey?

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.

 

How old is Roger Varian?

Roger Varian was born on March 14, 1979 so, at the time of writing, is 42 years old. In his younger days, Varian rode as a conditional jockey to Josh Gifford, but a shattered wrist, sustained in a fall while on attachment to legendary Maryland trainer Jack Fisher in 2001, effectively brought his riding career to an end. He subsequently accepted an invitation from Michael Jarvis – for whom he had worked, briefly, before joining Gifford – to become assistant trainer at Kremlin House Stables in Newmarket, a position he would occupy for the next ten years.

However, as Jarvis’ health declined, Varian adopted a leading role in the day-to-day running of Kremlin House, such that when Jarvis was forced to retire, in 2011, he was ideally positioned to take over the training licence. At that stage, he acknowledged the support he had received from Jarvis and his owners, saying, ‘I’ve learned an awful lot off arguably one of the best trainers there’s been. I’m very privileged and I understand that I’m very lucky.’

In any event, Varian made the perfect start as a trainer in his own right, saddling his first winner with his first runner, Eton Forever, in the Spring Mile at Doncaster on April 2, 2011. In his initial season, he saddled 53 winners in all and amassed just over £700,000 in prize money. In 2014, Varian saddled his first and, so far, only Classic winner, Kingston Hill in the St. Leger, but since moving to Carlburg Stables in Newmarket, in 2017, has saddled over a hundred winners in each of the last five seasons.

How many British Classic winners has William Buick ridden?

Having shared the apprentice jockeys’ title with David Probert in 2008, during his time with Andrew Balding, William Buick rode his first Grade 1 or Group 1 winner, Lahaleeb, trained by Mick Channon, in the E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack in Ontario, Canada in October, 2009. The following January, Buick replaced Jimmy Fortune as stable jockey to John Gosden at Clarehaven Stables in Newmarket and, the following September, rode his first British Classic winner, Arctic Cosmos, trained by Gosden, in the St. Leger at Doncaster.

Lo and behold, Buick won the St. Leger again in 2011 on Masked Marvel, also trained by Gosden. It would be another decade before he won the oldest Classic again but, in 2021, he guided odds-on favourite Hurricane Lane, trained by Charlie Appleby, to a comfortable 2¾-length win on Town Moor. Indeed, three weeks later, Hurricane Lane went tantalisingly close to becoming the first horse in history to complete the St. Leger – Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe double.

The St. Leger aside, Buick also famously won the Derby on Masar, also trained by Appleby, in 2018. In so doing, he registered the first win in the Epsom Classic for the royal blue silks of Godolphin, for whom he signed in 2015. So, to answer the headline question, Buick currently has four British Classic winners to his name.

Has David Probert ever ridden a Group 1 winner?

Perhaps a little surprisingly, the short answer is no, he hasn’t. Born on January 1, 1988 in Bargoed, South Wales, Probert attended the British Racing School in Newmarket and subsequently became apprenticed to Andrew Balding at Park House Stables in Kingsclere, near Newbury. In 2008, he shared the apprentice jockeys’ title with another Balding protégé, William Buick, both jockeys having ridden 50 winners apiece.

Unlike Buick, who became stable jockey to John Gosden in 2010 and a retained jockey for Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin operation in 2015, Probert has spent his whole career with Andrew Balding. Prior to 2021, his best seasonal tally came in 2019, when he rode 112 winners but, having reached the landmark of 1,000 winners on British soil at Lingfield on June 8, 2020, reached his fastest ever century at Nottingham on August 10, 2021. Indeed, at the time of writing, Probert is enjoying far and away his most successful season ever, numerically, with 135 winners to his name.

However, despite a career-best season, which has included two high-profile victories on Sandrine in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes and Bangkok in the Sky Bet York Stakes – both of which are Group 2 contests – a maiden Group 1 win remains elusive. Reflecting on his lack of success at the highest level, Probert said, ‘Yet to still find that one superstar, but hopefully it will come and hopefully within the next thousand winners.’ Surely it is only a matter of time.

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