Jockey

Midway through 2016, Adam Kirby, the British jockey, was faced with a massive dilemma. His partner, Megan, was in the final stages of her labour and naturally, he wanted to be with her as she delivered their first child. The problem, of course, was that he also had another date that day, with his horse, Profitable. And the stakes were as high as they come. It was time for the Royal Ascot 2016, one of the finest races of that year – or any other year for that matter. The gamble came good though, with Kirby pulling ahead and finishing a neck up. He walked away with a cool £400,000. That can pay for a lot of nappies!

This is one of the stories that showcase Kirby’s relentless aggression to get to the top. He is the lanky lad of horse racing, and while we don’t know if height gives him an edge, then we certainly know that his sharp-as-a-razor brain does . And for someone thought to be just establishing himself, Kirby has made some tremendous inroads in the game, especially when you consider the races taking place inside of the UK. He has managed several high profile victories while riding some of the finest horses in Britain –  it doesn’t start and end with Profitable.

Notable victories

In September 2015, while racing with the horse Connecticut, he managed to grab the International Bosphorus Cup, much to the admiration of his peers. Bet365 Gordon Richards Stake came next, in April 2016, and the jockey managed another upset, again with the beloved Profitable, whose trainer was (and still is ) Clive Cox. In June of the same year, Kirby won the Prince of Wale’s Stakes (British Champions Series) (Group 1), and this time, he rode My Dream Boat.

For Tom Scudamore, jockeying comes as second nature. The Condicote, Gloucestershire native comes from generations of jockeys, and winning is without a doubt embedded in his DNA. He is son to Peter Scudamore, who is a legend in his own right, with 8 championships under his belt. It stretches back even further to Tom’s grandfather, who took part in 16 Grand Nationals, year after year, winning once, in 1957. The grandfather is famous for riding Linwell and Snakestone.

Early beginnings

Born in 1982, Scudamore was already riding horses at the age of two, showcasing that his pedigree was from the finest stock. Over a decade later, while at Cheltenham College, he embarked upon a part-time career in flat and steeplechase, and has never looked back since then. All through his career, Scudamore has always come across as a highly disciplined jockey, combining flashes of brilliance with mettle born out of years of practice and pushing limits. While he has had several injury setbacks, Scudamore is known as the kind of jockey who dusts his shoes and gets right back to the game.

Professional highlights

The first flat in a slew of grand victories for Tom Scudamore came in 1998, when he pulled up ahead on the homestretch astride Nordic Breeze in Warwick. Toward the end of the same year, the jockey grabbed his second popular trophy, this time a steeplechase victory while riding Young Thruster. In 2001, Scudamore became the Amateur Jockey Champion for Britain. In all these victories, he was considered an amateur until he won the Chepstow Racecourse toward the end of the year 2001. Since then, the jockey has won an avalanche of accolades, with the most popular ones being the Red Square Gold(astride Heltornic), VC Casino Gold Cup(astride Madison Du Berlais), Ladbroke Hurdle(astride Desert Air), as well as Eider Chase on the back of Nil Desperandum.

One of Tom’s most recent victories was the King George Chase, coming on the back of Thistlecrack towards the close of 2016, where he walked away with a cool £119,026 prize. His biggest payday was back in March 2016, when he took home £170,850 at Ryanair World Hurdle.

Born on 4th May 1976, Tony McCoy is a widely reputed Northern Irish jockey. Based in the United Kingdom, he has countless achievements in racing, including registering 20 consecutive Champion Jockey titles – a feat that more than confirmed his status as a top class jockey. McCoy was a consummate professional throughout his career in racing. At 1.78m in height (5ft 10in) he’s unusually tall for a jockey, but this certainly hasn’t help him back.

Tony McCoy made history as one of the youngest jockeys ever to achieve track success, at the young age of just 17. The heights he’s reached are well illustrated by fact that he gained his 4000th triumph in 2013 at Towcester on Mountain Tunes. He total career wins come in at 4,358, a number of victories that’s almost hard to fathom.

Even before these exemplary showings, McCoy had already attained a record 74 wins participating as a conditional jockey for trainer Toby Balding. Since he earned his championship title in the 1995/1996 racing season, Tony McCoy attained a notable racing title every year until he ultimately left the tracks for his much-deserved retirement in 2015.

It has been remarked over the years that Tony McCoy won all that there was to win. His most celebrated exploits include the Cheltenhem Gold Cup, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Champion Hurdle, the 2010 Grand National, among other much respected and legendary races. These spectacular victories endeared him to casual punters and professional gamblers alike.

As an enduring testament to the space he’s carved out for himself in horse racing history, the BBC named Tony McCoy as the Sports Personality of Year in 2010. Although the Sports Personality award has been given out annually from 1954 onwards, this was the very first time the prestigious honour had gone to a jockey, or indeed anyone involved in the sport of horse racing. In fact that’s a fact that is true even today. As if that wasn’t enough McCoy won RTE Sports Person of the Year in 2013 and to top it all off he was knighted in 2016.

Sam Twiston-Davies is a talented and much respected National Hunt jockey. His illustrious sporting profile has profited a lot from Paul Nicholl’s able tutelage. Serving under  Nicholls, the younger man has managed to sharpen his jockeying skills quite considerably. Nicholls has clinched the British jump racing Champion trainer honours on more than eight occasions and so is certainly a person able to bestow a great deal of racing knowledge.

In a similar vein, Twiston-Davies must also have learned  from his father’s riding experience. Son of the iconic jockey Nigel Twiston-Davies, the father-inspired rider appears set on the ultimate goal of surpassing the older Twiston-Davies’s sporting milestones in the near future. And, going by what he’s accomplished at the moment, there’s no denying that this long-avowed dream is in the course of unfolding.

According to a recent face-to-face interview by a BBC interviewer, Twistin-Davies admitted that much of what he’s achieved so far is due to his parents’ involvement in racing. Asked what keeps him going, Sam said that he genuinely loves everything about horse racing. In short, the renowned jockey is in the game for the sheer thrill of it.

Sam Twiston-Davies registered his maiden win when he steered his father’s trainee – “Baby Run”. The outstanding achievement attracted thundering applause from the thousands of racing fans watching the Irish Champion Hunter Chase at Punchestown. The indomitable champion’s career received another boost after he pulled off a fourth-place finish in the 2010 Scottish Grand National aboard ‘Razor Royale’.

With a racing profile that goes from strength to strength, Sam Twiston-Davies had 100 winners within a single sporting season. These noteworthy exploits had been preceded by a whopping £1million earnings pocketed during the 2012/13 racing calendar.