Jockey

Born in Dublin on January 11, 1973, Richard Hughes is, of course, the son of Dessie Hughes, who, as a jockey, won the Champion Hurdle on Monksfield in 1979 and, as a trainer, did so again with Hardy Eustace in 2004 and 2005. However, despite standing 5’10” tall, and riding at now lower than 8st 8lb in the latter part of his career, between July 1994 and July 2015, he rode 2,428 domestic winners and was British Champion Flat Jockey three years running in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

A retained jockey for Prince Khalid bin Abdullah, founder of Juddmonte, between 2000 and 2007 – and first-choice jockey from 2003 onwards, following the retirement of Pat Eddery – Hughes subsequently rode for his father-in-law, Richard Hannon Snr., and his brother-in-law, Richard Jnr. His second title-winning season, 2013, in which he rode 208 winners, was his most successful numerically. That season also yielded two British Classic winners, namely Sky Lantern, trained by Hannon Snr., in the 1,000 Guineas and Talent, trained by Ralph Beckett, in the Oaks.In his career as a whole, Hughes rode 169 winners at Glorious Goodwood, 31 at Royal Ascot and won three French Classics, the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches on Zenda in 2002, the Prix de Diane on Nebraska Tornado in 2003 and the Poule d’Essai des Poulains on American Post in 2004.

Born in Birmingham on September 25, 1971, Seb Sanders rode his first winner, Band On The Run, in an apprentice maiden stakes race at Pontefract on June 12, 1990. After a modest start to his riding career, he enjoyed a breakthrough season in 1995, when he rode 61 winners, becoming Champion Apprentice and riding out his claim in the process. In 1997, he rode over a hundred winners in a season for the first time, including the first of his eight career Group 1 winners, when Compton Place, trained by James Toller, sprang a 50/1 surprise in the July Cup at Newmarket.

In 2004, Sanders succeeded George Duffield as stable jockey to Sir Mark Prescott and, after riding 165, 142 and 177 winners in 2004, 2005 and 2006, he enjoyed far and away his most successful season numerically in 2007. In the calendar year, he rode 213 winners, of which 190 fell within the ‘traditional’ turf Flat season, on which the jockeys’ championship was decided. The title race went down not just to the final day, but the final race, of the season, which was won by his main rival, Richard Hughes, who thereby earned himself a share of the jockeys’ title.

Paul Hanagan retired from the saddle in August 2023 after an impressive, 25-year career, during which he rode over 2,000 winners, including 10 at the highest, Group 1 level, and British Champion Flat Jockey twice, in 2010 and 2011. Born in Warrington, Cheshire on September 8, 1980, Hanagan graduated from the British Racing School on the outskirts of Newmarket and had his first ride in public on Stone Beck, trained by Malcolm Jefferson, at Haydock Park on September 4, 1998. On the recommendation of Jefferson, he subsequently became apprenticed to Richard Fahey in Malton, North Yorkshire and so began a fruitful association that would take him to the apprentices’ title in 2002 and both senior jockeys’ titles.

Indeed, it was the successful alliance with Fahey that led Hanagan to be announced as retained rider for owner Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum in 2012, following the retirement of the previous incumbent, Richard Hills. Highlights of that four-year partnership, which came to an end in November 2016, included winning the Oaks and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes on Taghrooda and the Coral-Eclipse Stakes on Mukhadram in 2014, and both the July Cup and the British Champion Sprint Stakes on Muhaarar in 2015.

A Co. Tipperary native, Jamie Spencer is the son of Champion Hurdle-winning trainer George Spencer, but has the distinction of having been Champion Flat Jockey on both sides of the Irish Sea. Champion Apprentice in his native Ireland in 1999, he graduated to the senior jockeys’ title in 2004, having ridden 93 winners that season, during a brief spell as stable jockey to the all-conquering Aidan O’Brien at Ballydoyle Racing Stables.

However, after just one turbulent year at Ballydoyle, Spencer resigned his position as retained jockey and moved, instead, to Britain. The relocation certainly did his career no harm because, in 2005 as a whole, he rode 180 winners, including Goodricke in the Sprint Cup at Haydock Park and David Junior in the Champion Stakes at Newmarket, to become British Champion Jockey for the first time. He did so again in 2007, albeit on that occasion sharing the title with Seb Sanders, with 190 winners apiece.

The last time Spencer rode over a hundred winners in a season was back in 2013 but, on August 12, 2017, he nonetheless reached the milestone of 2,000 British winners when partnering Stake Acclaim to a last-gasp success in the Shergar Cup Dash at Ascot. All told, he has ridden a total of 32 Group 1 winners worldwide.

Kevin Darley, who retired from the saddle at the end of the 2007 Flat season, with over 2,500 winners to his name, was Champion Jockey just once, in 2000. However, his achievement was all the more remarkable for the fact that he was the first jockey based in the North of England since Elijah Wheatley, 95 years earlier, to win the jockeys’ title. Indeed, Darley went close to doing so again in 2001, but had to settle for second place, just five winner behind the eventual winner, Kieren Fallon.

A product of the renowned apprentice academy of Reg Hollinshead at Upper Longdon, near Lichfield, Staffordshire, Darley was Champion Apprentice in 1978, with 71 winners. His second title-winning season, during which he rode 161 winners was, numerically, the most syccessful of his career. However, he rode 100 winners or more in every season, bar two, between 1993 and 2005; the exceptions were 1998 and 2004, when he rode 94 and 85 winners, respectively.

All told, Darley rode a total of 26 Group 1 winners at home and abroad. Career highlights included winning the Racing Post Trophy and Prix du Jockey Club on Celtic Swing, the St. Leger on Bollin Eric and the English and Irish 1,000 Guineas on Attraction.