Jockey

Robert ‘Robbie’ Dunne is, or was, a freelance National Hunt jockey, who enjoyed his most successful season, numerically, in 2020/21, when he rode 41 winners. However, while he has signalled his intention to appeal against an 18-month ban imposed by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), Dunne, 36, faces the prospect of a lengthy spell on the sidelines and, possibly, the end of his riding career. In December, 2021, he was found guilty on four counts of bullying and harassing fellow jockey Bryony Frost, 26, by an independent disciplinary panel at the BHA, which imposed the ban – the last three months of which are suspended – with immediate effect.

Originally from Garristown, Co. Kildare, Dunne did not sit on a racechorse until he was 14 but, in August, 2000, at the age of 15 and weighing just 8st 1lb, left home and school to take up a place on a 42-week residential course at the Racing Academy and Centre of Education (RACE) in Kildare. He was seconded to Dermot Weld, with whom he spent two years, and subsequently worked for Arthur Moore and Michael O’Brien. Dunne rode his first winner, Maswaly, trained by Jeremy Maxwell, at Downpatrick in February, 2005, but, having failed to break into double figures in three subsequent seasons in his native land, he took the bold step of moving across the Irish Sea.

On British soil, he would eventually find fame – thanks in no small part to owner Andrew Wiles – as the regular jockey of Rigadin De Beauchene, on whom he won the Classic Chase at Warwick in 2013 and the Grand National Trail at Haydock in 2014. Other high-profile successes included the Grimthorpe Chase at Doncaster and Scottish Grand National at Ayr on Wayward Prince, trained by Hilary Parrot, in 2015, and the Eider Chase at Newcastle on Mysteree, trained by Michael Scudamore, and Grand Sefton Chase at Aintree on Gas Line Boy, trained by Ian Williams, in 2017.

The late Ridley Lamb was a former National Hunt jockey and trainer, best known for winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup on The Thinker, trained by Arthur Stephenson, in 1987. Lamb retired, due to weight problems, the following November and turned to training at East Fleetham Farm in Seahouses, Northumberland, where his father, Reg, had previously held the licence. However, Lamb was tragically drowned, alongside friend and colleague Alan Merrigan, when the car in which he was travelling left the quayside in Seahouses in the early hours of July 25, 1994 and plunged into the sea. He was just 39 years old.

The youngest of nine children, Lamb rode his first winner, White Speck, trained by his father, at Catterick in 1971, at the age of just 15. As an amateur, he won what is now the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival on Quick Reply, trained by Harry Bell, in 1975. Having subsequently turned professional, he came within half a length of winning the Grand National on Sebastian V, also trained by Bell, in 1977; Sebastian V led over the final fence before finally succumbing to Lucius in a driving finish.

Lamb did, however, taste further success at the Cheltenham Festival, winning what is now the Paddy Power Plate on Brawny Scot, and what is now the Festival Trophy, on Fair View, both trained by George Fairbairn, in 1979. Eight years later, by which time he had enjoyed considerable success as stable jockey to Arthur Stephenson, Lamb enjoyed his finest hour aboard The Thinker in the 1987 Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Heavy snowfall caused the start to be delayed by over an hour but, in what Sir Peter O’Sullevan called ‘quite a carnival atmosphere’, The Thinker survived a blunder at the third-last fence to be one of five horses in contention on the turn for home. Only third jumping the final fence, he was carried right by the front-running Cybrandian in the closing stages, but stayed on best of all to win by 1½ lengths. All told Ridley Lamb rode 547 winners and achieved his best seasonal, 85, in 1979/80, when he finished third behind Jonjo O’Neill in the jockeys’ championship.

Blighted by numerous injuries for the better part of 2015, the 41-year-old Irish jockey seems to have made a solid comeback in the 2017 Cheltenham Festival. Setting off at the Irish point to point circuits, Fehily moved to the UK in 1998 where he gained significant experience; landing his first victory in the first year aboard Ivy Boy. The father of one, known to have a laid-back personality, was born to a Cork farmer. Despite having no family background in horse racing, Fehily has enjoyed a remarkably successful career.

The Journey to the top

Fehily became a professional in 2000 following 16 wins in the previous year, his second campaign since settling in the UK. He rode 12 winners in his first campaign. This saw him appointed second jockey to Jonjo O’Neill. His victory in 2008 when he rode Air Force One in the Champion Novice Chase at Punchestown was the real career takeoff that saw him amass huge prizes of up to £900,000.

Becoming the first jockey to Emma Lavelle in 2012, he has registered several heart-stopping successes since, with an impressive 21% strike rate, which is undoubtedly one of the most successful campaigns so far. For close to 20 years now, Fehily has ridden over 1000 winners in UK in under 7000 rides.

Notable achievements

The 2008/2009 season was the most successful in his career where he finished 4th in the Champion Jockey race with 89 winners in the campaign. Fehily may be one of the circuit’s older jockeys but he seems to have matured with age and is notably very reliable. His patience seems to have paid off. This year alone, in just a week, he won the Queen Mother Champion Chase aboard Special Tiara following an earlier victory riding Buveur D’Air at the Champion Hurdle in Cheltenham. From these two, he might bag at least £ 400,000 in prize money. Not bad for a guy who is at 40+1!

Nowadays, Jason Maguire is enjoying a second career as racing manager for owners Paul and Clare Rooney, for whom he rode as first-choice jockey during his highly successful National Hunt career. His riding career was brought to a premature end by two bad falls.

On the first occasion, at Stratford, on the eve of the 2014 Cheltenham Festival, he was unseated at the second flight in a handicap hurdle and kicked in the abdomen by another horse, leaving him with a fractured sternum and internal bleeding, which resulted in having part of his liver removed while in an induced coma. He returned to race riding six months later, but another fall, at Musselburgh in February, 2015, required surgery on slipped discs in his back and led to another lengthy recovery period. Finally, in May, 2016, he bowed to the inevitable and called time on his riding career at the age of 36.

As a jockey, Jason Maguire will probably always be best remembered for winning the 2011 Grand National on Ballabriggs, trained by Donald McCain Jr., son of Donald “Ginger” McCain, who won the Aintree marathon three times with Red Rum in 1973, 1974 and 1977 and again with Amberleigh House. However, Maguire rode his first winner, Search For Peace, in a conditional jockeys’ handicap hurdle at Cheltenham in September, 1999, and thereafter spent fruitful spells as stable jockey to Tom George and Donald McCain Jr..

All in all, he rode over 1,000 winners, including five at the Cheltenham Festival. His first Festival win came aboard the Polish-bred Galileo – not to be confused with the 2001 Derby winner of the same name – in the 2002 Royal & SunAlliance Novices’ Hurdle. Maguire fondly recalled the victory, saying, “I was obviously shocked that he won it, but you never forget your first Festival winner, it was what I had been dreaming of doing since I was a kid.”