Jockey

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.

Born on May 17, 1954 in Cape Town, South Africa, Michael Roberts was Champion Jockey 11 years running in his native land, on the first occasion while still an apprentice, so his subsequent success in Britain was hardly a surprise. Nicknamed ‘Muis’ or, in English, ‘Mouse’, because of his slight stature, Roberts is probably best remembered, internationally, for his association with Mtoto, trained by Alec Stewart, on whom he won consecutive runnings of the Eclipse Stakes at Sanodwn Park in 1987 and 1988.

Roberts was British Champion Jockey just once, in 1992, by which time he had become first jockey to Sheikh Mohammed, Ruler of Dubai, in the days before Godolphin. However, his title-winning season was notable for the fact that he rode 206 winners, making him, at the time, just the fourth jockey in history, and the first since the legendary Sir Gordon Richards, to reach a double-century in a single season.

Seasonal highlights included three Royal Ascot wins, courtesy of Lyric Fanstasy in the Queen Mary Stakes, Shalford in the Cork and Orrery Stakes (now the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes) and Armarama in the Ribblesdale Stakes. Roberts also partnered three Group 1 winners at home and abroad, including Lyric Fantasy in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York and Ivanka in the Fillies’ Mile at Ascot.

The name of Thomas ‘Tommy’ Stack is, of course, immortalised in the annals of Aintree folklore by virtue of his history-making, 25-length win on the inimitable Red Rum in the 1977 Grand National. Less well remembered, perhaps, is the fact that he had ridden ‘Rummy’ numerous times in his early hurdling and steeplechasing career, when in the charge of Robert ‘Bobby’ Renton at Oxclose, near Ripon, North Yorkshire.

Born in Moyvane, Co. Kerry on November 15, 1945, Stack had joined Renton, as a 19-year-old, in 1965 and, on his retirement, briefly became both jockey and trainer at the yard. He subsequently became stable jockey to Arthur Stephenson at Leasingthorne, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham and became Champion National Hunt Jockey twice, in 1974/75 and 1976/77, with 82 and 97 winners, respectively.

At the time of his retirement from the saddle, at the relatively early age at 32, in May 1978, Stack had accrued at total of 602 winners. Aside from the Grand National, his career highlights included winning Schweppes Gold Trophy, now the Betfair Hurdle, on True Lad in 1977 and the Whitbread Gold Cup, now the Bet365 Gold Cup, on Strobolus in 1978.

Born on February 28, 1943, Co. Limerick native Ron Barry rode his first winner, Lluvia, on the Flat at Gowran Park in May 1961. However, it was not until three years later, when he joined Wilfred Crawford at Haddington, East Lothian as a conditional jockey, that he began his climb to the top of the National Hunt tree.

In an outstanding career, Barry was Champion National Hunt Jockey twice, in 1972/73 and 1973/74, on the first occasion with a then-record 125 winners. At the time of his retirement, aged 40, in October 1983, he had clocked up 823 winners, the majority of which came for Grand National-winning trainer Gordon W. Richards, with whom spent two spells as stable jockey.

Barry enjoyed the highest-profile of his career in the 1973 Cheltenham Gold Cup, when he rode The Dikler, trained by Fulke Walwyn, to a short-head success over Pendil. He might also have won the 1978 Grand National, but for declining the winning ride on Lucius, trained by Richards, because of previous commitments. Nevertheless, Barry garnered plenty of success elsewhere and, notably, remains the most successful jockey in the history of the Bet365 Gold Cup, previously the Whitbread Gold Cup, which he won three times, on Titus Oates (1971), Charlie Potheen (1973) and The Dikler (1974).