Jockey

Thomas Geoffrey ‘Tom’ Scudamore announced his shock retirement, with immediate effect, on February 16, 2023, shortly after being unseated from Ya Know Yaseff, trained by David Pipe, in a novices’ handicap chase at Leicester. Scudamore had previously suffered concussion when his mount, Royal Defender, was brought down in a ‘bumper’ at Chepstow on February 3 and, having received ‘a right kicking’ at Leicester, he had few qualms about hanging up his boots. Reflecting on his spur-of-the-moment decision, Scudamore said, ‘At my age [40] you have to be careful. I feel I have had a bit of a warning.’

Tom Scudamore, the son of eight-time champion National Hunt jockey Peter, rode his last winner, Pachacuti, also trained by Pipe, in a handicap hurdle at Fakenham on February 2, 2023. All told, he rode 1,499 winners under National Hunt Rules, all bar one on British soil, making him the tenth most profilic Jump jockey of all time in Great Britain and Ireland. He enjoyed his most successful season, numerically, in 2014/15, when he rode 150 winners and finished third in the National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship.

Scudamore effectively rode his first ‘winner’ of any description, Nordic Breeze, trained by Martin Pipe, in an amateur riders’ handicap on the Flat at Warwick on July 3, 1998. However, Nordic Breeze, who was beaten five lengths, was only awarded the race after an investigation by the British Amateur Jockeys’ Association revealed that the first past the post, Broughtons Lure, was ridden by former American professional Angel Monserrate, masquerading as amateur ‘Angel Jacobs’.

Over obstacles, Scudamore rode his first winner, Young Thruster, trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies, in an amatuer riders’ novices’ hurdle at Newton Abbott on November 4, 1998. He was champion amateur rider in 2000/01 and, having turned professional, rode his first winner in the paid ranks, Belle D’Anjou, also trained by Martin Pipe, in a handicap hurdle at Chepstow on October 6, 2001.

Jonathan Burke, who hails from Glengoura, near Mallow, County Cork, was only 16 when he rode his first winner, Trendy Gift, owned and trained by his father, Liam, in a mares’ bumper at Cork on April 9, 2012. He recorded his first major success on Very Much So, trained by Willie Mullins, in the Goffs Land Rover Bumper at Punchestown on April 29, 2014 and turned professional the following month.

Burke rode his first winner as a professional, Golden Kite, trained by Adrian Maguire, in the Connact National at Roscommon in June 9, 2014. Indeed, he was still only 18 and claiming 5lb when he was offered the job as retained jockey to the late Alan Potts, for whom he went on to win the Champion Chase at Gowran Park on Sizing Europe, the Future Champions Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown on Sizing Europe and the Maghull Novices’ Chase at Aintree on Sizing Granite, among other high-profile races.

An injury-plagued campaign in 2016 effectively sounded a death knell for the association with Potts and, in July 2017, Burke crossed the Irish Sea to become stable jockey to Charlie Longsdon in Over Norton, Oxfordshire. He has subsequently occupied the same position with Tom George in Slad, Gloucester and, more recently, with Fergal O’Brien in Withington, near Cheltenham, following the retirment of the previous incumbent, Paddy Brennan.

Burke enjoyed his most successful season on British soil in 2021/22, when he rode 63 winners. He has five Grade 1 win victories to his name, including the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle on Not So Sleepy, trained by Hughie Morrison, in 2021 and back-to-back renewals of the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot on Crambo, trained by O’Brien, in 2023 and 2024.

Born in Brighton on May 12, 2000, Jason Watson rode his first winner, Many Dreams, trained by Gary Moore, in an apprentice handicap at Salisbury on May 18, 2017. His inaugural season yielded just one more winner from a total of 41 rides, but in 2018 he rode an astonishing 111 winners – 77 of which came in the ‘window’ between the Guineas Festival at Newmarket and British Champions Day at Ascot, on which the apprentices’ title is decided – and rode out his claim on Archimento, trained by William Knight, in a handicap at Kempton on October 8. Seasonal highlights included winning the Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood on Gifted Master, trained by Hugo Palmer, and the Premio Lydia Tesio at Capannelle on God Given, trained by Luca Cumani.

In 2019, as stable jocket to now-retired Beckhampton trainer Roger Charlton, Watson rode 97 winners, including his first domestic Group 1 winner, Quadrilateral, in the Fillies’ Mile. His seasonal tally was all the more remarkable for the fact he was sidelined until the end of March after fracturing four vertebrae when his mount, Teresita Alvarez, stumbled badly and threw him to the ground at Kempton Park on January 4. However, after a less prolific season in 2020, in which he rode just 36 winners, Watson and Charlton eventually parted company in the summer of 2021. All told, Watson has nine Group race winners to his name, at home and abroad, the most recent of which was the Group 3 Goldene Peitsche at Baden-Baden on Al Shabab Storm, trained by Andrew Balding, on August 25, 2024.

James Bowen is, of course, the son of Pembrokeshire trainer Peter Bowen and the younger brother of fellow jockey Sean Bowen. A graduate from pony and point-to-point racing, Bowen turned professional at the age of 16 and rode his first winner as a professional, Curious Carlos, trained by his father, in a handicap hurdle at Cartmel on May 27, 2017. He subsequently became conditional jockey to Upper Lambourn trainer Nicky Henderson and in 2017/18 rode 58 winners on his way to succeeding brother Sean as the youngest Champion Conditional Jockey in history. On January 6, 2018, Bowen made headlines when winning the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow on the 13-year-old Raz De Maree, trained by Gavin Cromwell, thereby becoming the youngest jockey ever to win that race, too.

Bowen enjoyed is most successful season so far in 2021/22, when he rode 74 winners from 338 rides, at a strike rate of 19%, and amassed £960,334 in prize money. Fast forward to 2024/25 and he has, at the time of writing, ridden 65 winners from 357 rides to lie sixth in the senior jockeys’ championship. All told, Bowen has 27 Graded and Listed winners to his name, his first Grade 1 win coming on Jango Baie, trained by Henderson, in the Formby Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree on Boxing Day 2023. He has ridden 11 winners at Cheltenham, including Call Me Lord in the International Hurdle in 2019 and Sir Gino in the Finesse Hurdle in 2024, but none so far at the Cheltenham Festival.