Born in Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland, Danny McMenamin received early tutelage from local trainer Brian Hamilton and Ger Lyons in County Meath. He was still only 17 when he took the advice of former Grand National-winning jockey Tony Dobbin and crossed the Irish Sea to join Nicky Richards at Greystoke Stables in Penrith Cumbria.
McMenamin got off the mark for the yard at the first attempt, steering Western Rules to a short-head victory in an amateur riders’ handicap hurdle at Ayr on March 9, 2018. The following November he made his big breakthrough when, as a 7lb claimer, he won the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham on Nietzsche, trained by Brian Ellison. McMenamin rode 16 winners in 2018/19, 28 winners in 2019/20 and 46 winners in 2020/21. In the latter season, he rode out his claim on Archie Brown, trained by Henry Hogarth, in a novices’ handicap chase at Market Rasen on February 21m en route to winning the conditional jockeys’ title.
Richards aside, McMenamin has formed a profitable association with Ann Hamilton, who trains a small string in Capheaton, Northumberland, but has nonetheless provided him with 32 winners in his career to date, including three of his four Grade 2 winners. The partnership won the Old Roan Chase at Aintree on Nuts Well in 2020, the Champion Hurdle Trial at Haydock Park with Tommy’s Oscar in 2022 and the Lightning Novices’ Chase at Doncaster with the same horse the following year. At the time of writing, McMenamin look destined for his most successful season yet, having already equalled his career-best total of 49 winners, which he achieved in 2023/24.
