Jockey

Paul Mulrennan’s career story is as gripping as they come. He had never thought about horse racing before the age of 16. He did so happen to have an uncle that trained horses in Galway but never really thought it was the sport for him, his only fascination at that time being Gaelic football. Forever, that year, at age 16, he was advised to try his hand at being a jockey, seeing as he was too short for Gaelic football. Since that moment, the Ealing-born Irishman has never wavered on his way to the top.

Starting out

After deciding he wanted to be a jockey, Mulrennan chose to enroll at the British Racing School at Newmarket. Up until that time, he had never so much as sat on a horse, but that didn’t stop him from becoming a master of the game and earning the respect of his peers. When he finished his apprenticeship, the jockey decided to head up north and join the racing circuit there.

Victories and prize money

Laundry Cottage Stud Firth of Clyde Stakes was one of Mulrennan’s first big race wins, and he did it with Melody of Love in 2012. Surely a horse with a name like that would have a rider dancing to the rhyme of its saddle! Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes (British Champions Series) (Group 1) was another notable achievement, this time astride Mecca’s Angel in 2015. At the end of 2016, he again roared at William Hill Firth of Clyde Stakes with Delectation. The now 35-year-old managed to forge a strong sense of camaraderie with one of his best winners, Dandino. His maor prizes have ranged between £22,684 and £236,622.

Born on May 1st, 1960, Steve Cauthen is a retired North American jockey with a string of horse racing wins to his name. He grew up in Walton in Kentucky and gradually developed a strong interest in his father’s horse riding lifestyle.

Cauthen embarked on his first-ever race at Churchill Downs on May 12, 1976. Riding King Swat on this maiden effort, he unfortunately registered a dismal showing and finished last. Nonetheless, the he didn’t let this demoralissing development impact his love of horse racing. Less than a week later, he successfully steered his first winner (named Red Pipe) to an exemplary win at River Downs.

After this widely lauded first victory, Cauthen’s meteoric rise continued. By late 1977, he had amassed a whopping 487 racecourse victories. Within the very first two years of the career, Steve Cauthen emerged as the only jockey to win $6 million in the whole of United States’ racing history. He clinched this coveted position in 1977 when he rode the three-year-old filly named Little Happiness to a decisive victory.

As a result of this unbeaten reputation, the widely esteemed jockey received a few pseudonyms from the media and his legions of fans. These titles included “Stevie Wonder” and the “The Six Million Dollar Man” – both adoring references that depicted his growing reputation around the world.

In 1978, Steve Cauthen went on to win the U.S. Triple Crown – the youngest jockey to achieve this. Owing to this newly attained triumph, he was named as the Sport’s Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. For the next 37 years, Steve Cauthen remained the last jockey to clinch all legs of the Triple Crown. This was until Victor Espinoza achieved the same position on American Pharaoh in 2015.

An Italian-born jockey, Andrea Atzeni comes from the Mediterranean archipelago of Sardinia. Despite not coming from a racing background, this enigmatic winner has impressed time and time again. Horse riding historians and pundits have often attributed his  racing prowess to his undying interest in horses since a young age. The young Atzeni competed in low-key amateur showdowns around his Sardinia neighborhood.

Despite his fruitless quest for proper professional training in the neighboring vicinity, the aspiring jockey refused to give up and relocated to Milan. Starting a serious pupilage phase at the age of 15, the would-be racetrack champion steadily built an unparalleled career profile that extends beyond the present day. Restless with curiosity and penchant for riding titles, he moved residence two years later. At the ripe age of 17, Atzeni found himself in England’s extremely competitive sporting environment.

Pitching tent in Newmarket, Andrea Atzeni finally landed a career-shaping apprenticeship at the Prestige Palace stables that were owned by a renowned Alduino’s son – Marco. Both Marco and Atzeni spent quality periods together and at the same time, the fruitful engagement helped popularise the facility beyond its earlier confines, with many more upcoming trainees applying for tutelage vacancies.

In 2014 alone, Andrea Atzeni concluded the season with a whopping 125 wins. His numerous other triumphs include the Grosser Preis von Bayern – (1) – Seismos (2013), the British Champions Fillies’ and Mares’ Stakes – (1) – Simple Verse (2015), the Coronation Cup – (1) – Postponed (2016), the Dewhurst Stakes (2014), the International Stakes, and the George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Joe Mercer was born on 25th October 1934 and is a retired English  jockey. His most active career phase took place between 1974 and 1985. He steered more than 2,810 winners throughout his career, a record only surpassed by Sir Gordon Richards, Doug Smith, and Lester Piggott at the time of Mercer’s. As such, Joe Mercer can be said to be among the top four most illustrious jockeys of his time.

Joe Mercer’s attachment to Frederick Sneyd in a successful apprenticeship that lasted fairly long has been cited as one of the the key factors that catapulted him to auspicious sporting success.

Mercer won his first outstanding victory in the British Classic race riding on Ambiguity in 1953. This exemplary feat occured atop Ambiguity in the Epsom Oaks. As a result of his performance, the celebrated jockey received the title of the British flat racing Champion Apprentice on two consecutive years – 1952 and 1953. These triumphs set an enviable career foundation on which Mercer built.

After his promising 1953 showing, the talented flatracer further plunged himself into tireless training. Within less than twenty years after the 1953 success as an incomparably talented protege to Sneyd, Joe Mercer consistently set new highs for future generations of riders.

Later in his career, Joe Mercer operated as a stable jockey for Henry Cecil and Dick Hern. Under Cecil, the professional flat racer won his only British flat racing Champion Jockey title in 1979. His most successful horse remains Brigadier Gerald, a winner on whom Mercer registered 17 out of his 18 wins between 1970 and 1972. After winning the November Handicap in 1985 mounting Bold Rex, Joe Mercer retired after an admirabl and standout career.