Jockey

Born in County Wexford on June 14, 1972, James ‘Jimmy’ Fortune began his riding career as apprentice to Coolcullen trainer Jim Bolger before moving to Britain to join Mike O’Neill. He rode his first winner on British soil, Hitchenstown, trained by Eric Alston, in an apprentices’ handicap at Thirsk on July 29, 1988. The following season, while still a 5lb claimer, he rode 29 winners, including the Ayr Gold Cup winner, Joveworth, trained by O’Neill and the one after rode 47 winners to take the apprentices’ title.

In a riding career spanning four decades, Fortune was, at various points, stable jockey to David Barron, Paul Cole and John Gosden and retained jockey for Jack Ramsden and Robert Sangster. He rode the first of his 16 career Group 1 winners, Commander Collins, owned by Sangster and trained by Peter Chapple-Hyam, in the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster on October 24, 1998. That season, Fortune rode 108 winners, thereby achieving his highest ever position in the jockeys’ championship, joint-fourth.

Fortune has a single British Classic winner to his name, Lucarno, trained by John Gosden, in the St. Leger at Doncaster on Spetemver 15, 2007. Coincidentally, that season proved to be his most successful, numerically, with 110 winners from 717 rides, at a strike rate of 15%. Fortune retired in 2017, aged 45, after the latest in a series of back problems meant that he was unable to maintain the workload required to ride as a freelance jockey. His final ride, Nathra, trained by John Gosden, finished third in the Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket on October 7, 2017. He retired with 1,780 winners to his name, which, at the time, placed him seventh of the current Flat jockeys in Britain.

Aside from Mike O’Neill, Fortune singled out Tony Hind, his agent for 25 years, for special thanks. He said, jokingly, “I think I’m just about the only one of his jockeys who he hasn’t made champion!”

Jamie Moore is one of three successful jockey sons of West Sussex trainer Gary Moore, albeit that he and his younger brother Josh – who now shares the training licence with his father – are retired from the saddle and his older brother Ryan is currently sidelined with a stress fracture of his femur. He rode his first winner, of any description, Stormy Skye, trained by his father, in an amateur riders’ classified stakes race at Nottingham in November 2001 and his first under National Hunt Rules, Blue Streak, also trained by his father, in an amateur riders’ handicap hurdle at Plumpton a little over a year later. Moore subsequently became conditonal jockey to Martin Pipe in Nicholashayne, Somerset and, in 2003/04, rode 48 winners to take the comditional jockeys’ title.

In the professional ranks, Moore enjoyed his most successful season, numerically, in 2021/22, when he rode 80 winners from 416 rides, at a strike rate of 19%. In his career as a whole, he rode 959 winners on British soil, including seven at Grade 1 level. Five of those Grade 1 wins, including the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the 2014 Cheltenham Festival, came courtesy of Sir De Grugy, who was awarded a Timeform Annual Rating of 170 and whom Moore rode to all 17 career wins.

On November 21, 2023, Moore broke two ribs and his nose and fractured his seventh thoracic vertebra when his mount, Mi Sueno, trained by Paddy Butler, fell heavily at the second-last flight in a handicap hurdle at Lingfield. After spending six weeks in a neck brace, he recovered, but the following February announced his retirement from the saddle, with immediate effect, on medical advice. He rode his last winner, Kotmask, trained by his father, at Plumpton on the day before his injury.

Born in St. Asaph in Denbighshire, North East Wales on July 8, 1972, David Harrison graduated from the British Racing School in Newmarket and subsequently became apprenticed to William Hastings-Bass, latterly Lord Huntingdon, in West Isley, Berkshire, with whom he had previously gained three months’ work experience. Fittingly, for a Welshman, he rode his first winner, Majestic Image, trained by Hastings-Bass, at Southwell on March 1, 1991.

After riding 14 winners in 1991, including the first of 27 in the colours of the late Queen Elizabeth II that he would ride during his career, Harrison rode a further 56 winners in 1992, which was sufficient to win the apprentices’ title. As a fully-fledged professional, he enjoyed his most successful season on British soil in 1994, when he rode 71 winners from 611 rides, at a strike rate of 12%.

Harrison never won a domestic Group 1 race, but did ride Single Empire, trained by Peter Chapple-Hyam, to victory in the Derby Italiano at Campanelle, Italy in 1997, along with Holy Grail, trained by Ivan Allan, in the Hong Kong Derby at Sha Tin, Hong Kong in 1999 and Arctic Owl, trained by James Fanshawe, at the Curragh, Ireland in 2000. All told, he rode a total of 28 Listed and Pattern race winners worldwide.

After 11 years as a jockey, Harrison suffered serious neck and back injuries, necessitating a stay in intensive care, when his mount, My Chief, clipped heels in a race at Sha Tin, Hong on May 30, 2001 and took an horrific fall. The incident ended his riding career, but Harrison recovered sufficiently to return to racing as a jockeys’ agent some years later.

He was to ride a further 26 in the royal colours including Colour Sergeant in the Royal Hunt Cup, her first Royal Ascot winner for 25 years.

Born in Manchester on June 14, 1977, Darryll Holland rode his first winner on British soil, Sinclair Boy, trained by the late Barry Hills, to whom he was apprenticed, at Warwick on May 7, 1990. In that season, as whole, he rode 31 winners and in 1991 rode 83 winners to claim the apprentices’ title.

Holland rode on the Flat every season until 2013, riding over a hundred winners in six occasions, including four seasons running between 2001 and 2004. His most successful season on home soil came in 2003, when he rode 157 winners from 989 rides, at a strike rate of 16%, and amassed over £3.2 million in total prize money. He subsequently spent three years riding in South Korea, becoming the first European jockey to do so, before returning to Britain for a brief, abortive stint as stable jockey to Charlie Hills, son of Barry, in Lambourn in 2016.

The 2016 season yielded just 22 winners on British soil, including what proved to be the last of them, Dolphin Village, trained by Jane Chapple-Hyam, at Newmarket on July 30, 2016. Holland subsequently moved, briefly, back to South Korea, where he won the KRA Cup Mile, the first leg of the Korean Triple Crown, at Busan on Indian King, trained by Mun Je Bok, on April 2, 2017. Thereafter, he plied his trade, with mixed fortunes, in the United States and Canada, before taking his final ride at Woodbine, Toronto on November 21, 2020.

Holland retired from the saddle with 17 Group 1 winners to his name at home and abroad. Domestically, his career highlights included winning the Coral-Eclipse Stakes, Juddmonte International Stakes and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Falbrav, trained by Luca Cumani, in 2003. He never won a British Classic, but went closer than most when the unheralded Dragon Dancer, trained by Geoff Wragg, who was sent off at 66/1, was just touched off by Sir Percy in the Derby in 2006.