Born in Dunmanway, West Cork on June 23, 1992, Gavin Sheehan graduated from the pony racing circuit to become amateur rider to Co. Limerick trainer Michael Hourigan, with whom he spent 18 months. Thereafter, he joined Co. Cork handler John Joseph Murphy, for whom, as an 18-year-old apprentice, he rode his first winner under Rules, Whatsabillion, in a handicap hurdle at Thurles on February 24, 2011.
Following injury, Sheehan crossed the Irish Sea to join the now-retired Charlie Mann in Upper Lambourn, near Hungerford, Berkshire, whom he later described as ‘the starting point of my career here [in Britain].’ Further success soon followed; in 2013/14 he rode 50 winners on British soil, en route to the apprentices’ title, and has ridden 50 or more winners in every season, bar one, since.
Sheehan has yet to achieve his stated ambitions of winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup or the Grand National or riding 100 winners in a season, but enjoyed his most prolific campaign so far in 2023/24, when he rode 91 winners from 544 rides at a strike rate of 17%. His final tally that season include a series of high-profile successes, including Datsalirghtgino, trained by Jamie Snowden, in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury, Fugitif, trained by Richard Hobson, in the December Gold Cup at Cheltenham, Hewick, trained by John Jospeh Hanlon, in the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park and Colonel Harry, also trained by Snowden, in the Towton Novices’ Chase at Wetherby.
Sheehan has continued in a not dissimilar vein in 2024, so far, riding 13 winners from 106 rides at a strike rate of 12% to lie thirteenth in the National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship. Whatever the future holds, his career has certainly taken a significant upturn since the darks days of December 2021, when he received a tongue-lashing from trainer Paul Nicholls, and subsequently lost his retainer with owner Andrew Brooks, as a result of a woefully misjudged ride on Saint Calvados in the King George VI Chase.
