Jockey

The late Stanley ‘Stan’ Mellor MBE, who died at the age on July 31, 2020 after a long illness, was one of the outstanding jockeys of his generation. He won the National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship three years running, in 1959/60, 1960/61 and 1961/62, and may well have done so again in 1962/63, but for suffering serious facial injuries in a fall from Eastern Harvest in the inaugural running of the Schweppes Gold Trophy (now the Betfair Hurdle) at Aintree. Mellor had led the championship by 20 winners beforehand, but that mishap allowed his nearest rival, Josh Gifford, to make up lost ground and win his first jockeys’ title by six winners.

On December 18, 1971, Mellor rode Ouzo to victory in a novice chase at Nottingham, thereby becoming the first National Hunt jockey to ride 1,000 winners. The following year, in which he was also awarded an MBE for services to racing, he retired on a winning note, courtesy of Arne Folly at Stratford on June 2, with a then record 1,035 winners to his name. For all his success elsewhere, Mellor will probably always be best remembered for his canny, half-length defeat of the legendary Arkle on Stalybridge Colonist in the 1966 Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury.

As a jockey, Mellor did return to the saddle for one last hurrah in the aptly-titled ‘Old and Bold Stakes’, a ‘celebrity’ race run over a mile and a half at Uttoexeter on September 9, 1991, in aid of the Injured Jockeys’ Fund. He justified odds-on favouritism on Rock Face, trained by Sir Mark Prescott and in so doing defeated the likes of Brough Scott and Lord Oaksey. Aside from his 1,035 winners over jumps in Britain, Mellor rode nine more in Ireland, five further abroad and five on the Flat.

At the time of writing Sean Bowen currently leads the 2024/25 National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship, albeit narrowly, having ridden 38 winners from 216 rides at a strike rate of 18%. Of course, he narrowly missed out on his maiden title in 2023/24, eventually finishing just seven winners behind Harry Cobden, after a knee injury sustained in a fall at Aintree on Boxing Day caused him to miss the whole of January.

Born on September 5, 1997 in Little Newcastle in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, Bowen is the eldest son of trainer Peter Bowen, but it was for compatriot Bernard Llewellyn that he rode his first winner, Kozmina Bay, in a ‘Hands and Heels’ novices’ handicap hurdle at Uttoxeter on December 20, 2013. In 2014/15, with the backing of Paul Nicholls, he rode 51 winners, clinching the conditional jockeys’ title with victory on Lil Rockefeller, trained by Neil King, in the first race of the final meeting of the season, Bet365 Jumps Finale Day at Sandown Park, on April 25, 2015. By way of celebrating becoming, at the time, the youngest-ever Champion Conditional Jockey, at the age of 17, he also won the feature race of the day, the Bet365 Gold Cup, on Just A Par, trained by Nicholls, the same afternoon.

Two years later, on April 29, 2017, Bowen won the Bet365 Gold Cup again, on 40/1 outsider Henllan Harri, trained by his father, a victory that he later said had given him the ‘most pleasure’ in his career. In that same interview, he also said that his first Grade 1 winner, If The Cap Fits, in the Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree on April 6, 2019, was ‘special’. He has since added three more to his career tally, namely Metier in the Tolworth Hurdle in 2021, Not So Sleepy in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle in 2024 and, most recently, Strong Leader in the Liverpool Hurdle, again, in 2024. Not bad for a jockey who is, ironically, allergic to horses.

Born in Winchester, Hampshire in April 2002, Saffron ‘Saffie’ Osborne is, of course, the daughter of National Hunt jockey-turned-trainer Jamie Osborne, who is based at Old Malthouse Stables in Upper Lambourn, near Hungerford, Berkshire. An accomplished eventer, Osborne spent four months riding work for Aidan O’Brien in Ireland and another four with Gai Waterhouse in Australia before taking her first rides in Britain, as apprentice to her father, in 2020.

Hot Scoop, who was victorious in a novice stakes race at Windsor on July 27, 2020, was the first of nine winners that Osborne rode in her in her inaugural season. However, it was at the same Berkshire course, on October 19, 2020, that she was lucky to escape serious injury when her mount, Zeyzoun, clipped heels after two furlongs of a mile handicap and unseated her. As it was, she suffered concussion, broken ribs, a punctured lung and a broken arm.

Nevertheless, in 2021, Osborne rode 40 winners, finishing runner-up in the apprentices’ championship, rather ironically behind Marco Ghiani, who had received a 10-day suspension for careless riding as a result of the aforementioned incident at Windsor. On October 16, 2022, she rode her first Group winner, Random Harvest, trained by Ed Walker, in the Premio Elena e Sergio Cumani at San Siro, Italy and less then three week later won November Handicap at Doncaster on Metier, trained by Harry Fry.

The following season, having ridden out her claim, Osborne enjoyed what she later described as ‘my best day in the saddle so far’ when winning the Chester Cup on Metier on May 12, 2023. Indeed, 2023 proved to be her most prolific so far, with 70 winners, including Random Harvest in the Group 3 Valiant Stakes at Ascot, and over £1.3 million in total prize money on British soil alone.

The late Joshua Thomas ‘Josh’ Gifford, who died from a massive heart at his yard in Findon, West Sussex on February 9, 2012, was a force majeure in National Hunt racing for 40 years. As a jockey, he rode a total of 693 winners and won the National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship four times, in 1962/63, 1963/64, 1966/67 (with a then record 122 winners) and 1967/68 and, as a trainer, he saddled a total of 1,587. However, for all his success elsewhere, to a wider audience Gifford will always be best remembered as the trainer of the fragile, but hugely talented, Aldaniti, whose ‘fairytale’ victory in the 1981 Grand National under cancer survivor Bob Champion became the subject of the 1984 film ‘Champions’.

Born on August 3, 1941 in Huntingdon, Gifford rode his first winner, Dorsol, trained by Syd Mercer in a maiden handicap at Birmingham on July 30, 1956. Indeed, he would ride 50 more on the Flat, including Trentham Boy in the Manchester November Handicap in 1956 and Curry in the Chester Cup in 1957, before weight problems forced him to turn his attention to the National Hunt code. In that sphere, he rode his first winner, Kingmaker, in a novices’ hurdle at Wincanton on December 17, 1959.

Gifford had the distinction of winning four of the first five winners of the Schweppes Gold Trophy (now the Betfair Hurdle), on Rosyth in 1963 and 1964, Le Vermontois in 1966 and Hill House in 1967, with all four winners trained by Ryan Price. He never won the Grand National, but his mount, Honey End must surely have beaten bona fide 100/1 outsider Foinavon in the 1967 renewal had he managed to avoid the now infamous melee at the twenty-third fence. He did, however, have the consolation of winning the Topham Trophy, over the National fences, twice, on Dagmar Gittell in 1962 and Walpole in 1966.