A name that most with a keen interest in horse racing will surely recognise is Peter Scudamore. With tremendously successful careers as both a jockey and trainer, Scudamore is well versed in all aspects of racing, and there’s little he hasn’t achieved in the sport over the years.

 

It all started way back in June1958 when Scudamore was born to Father Michael and his wife Mary. Many will of course know Michael Scudamore as a very successful jockey in his own right. It’s often the case of ‘like Father, like Son’ in horse racing, and by fact that his Father had previously rode the winner in the Grand National (in 1959 on Oxo) the future looked bright from day one, and young Peter had a ready made role model to aspire to emulate.

 

And a success he certainly did make of himself. You name it he achieved it in his decade and a half career as a jockey. Eight time Champion Jockey, 1,678 career wins (221 in just one season – a record), and an MBE honour to top it all off. Wins too at the Cheltenham Festival (Champions Hurdle x 2, Queen Mother Champion Chase and others), the list of accolades goes on and on. Working alongside the likes of trainer Martin Pipe for an extended period of time certainly did him no harm either, as it provided yet another master of the sport to look up to and learn from.

 

Scudamore is still involved in racing to this date, in the capacity of a pundit, a horse racing columnist for the Daily Mail and with his own son’s promising career in the sport. He’ll no doubt be hoping to provide the same kind of inspirational spark to his son, that his Father passed on to him decades earlier.

Michael J. Kinane, usually known as “Mick”, will probably always be remembered as the jockey of Sea The Stars, who won six Group One races, including the 2,000 Guineas, the Derby and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, in the final season of his 34-year riding career. Announcing his retirement in December, 2009, Kinane said, “At 50 I still feel fit and sharp enough to do any horse justice but, after the season I have just had in partnership with Sea The Stars, I have the privilege of being able to end my career as a jockey on an incredible high and that’s what I want to do.”

 

 

Kinane served his apprenticeship with Liam Browne and made his racecourse debut, as a 15-year-old, in Leopardstown in March, 1975. His first ride in public, Muscari, was a winner and trainer Larry Greene later recalled, “It was the first time Mick ever rode a horse in a race. Even at that age, he rode like a fully fledged adult jockey.” Kinane became Irish Champion Apprentice in 1978 and Irish Champion Jockey for the first time in 1984. All in all, he became Irish Champion Jockey 13 times and rode 1,500 winners all over the world.

 

His major successes included the 2,000 Guineas, the Derby three times and the Melbourne Cup. He said of the latter victory, on Vintage Crop for Dermot Weld in 1993, “Before Sea The Stars, Vintage Crop left the biggest impression on me, when we became the first Europeans to win the Melbourne Cup.” The same year, Kinane won his first Derby, on Commander In Chief for Henry Cecil and, famously, turned down the opportunity to replace Steve Cauthen as retained jockey to Sheikh Mohammed.

 

When Kinane did end his 14-year association with Dermot Weld, he joined Aidan O’Brien as stable jockey at Ballydoyle and, between 1999 and 2003, enjoyed the most productive spell of his career. In 2001, alone, Kinane rode 17 winners at the highest level, including the Derby, the Oaks and the St. Leger, all for Aidan O’Brien.

Tom O’Brien is known as one of the more popular Irish jockeys in the horse racing scene. The 30-year-old has tried his hand at a bunch of things in the sport, with varying degrees of success. His current staple is National Hunt Racing. When O’Brien started out, all his races were for Shay Slevin. However, he soon moved up the rung, but not before putting in some shift for his uncle Aidan O’Brien. As a winner, O’Brien is probably not one of the conspicuous ones out there, but he did ride extremely popular horses such as the revered Rock of Gilbraltar and High Chapparal.

At the start of O’Brien’s career, he always craved for plenty of rides and lots of winners. Unfortunately, this does not happen too much in Ireland, which is why he made the choice to move to England 13 years ago. It wasn’t a bad decision either; here, he would get all the exposure he wanted and grab the opportunity to shine alongside some of the top stars in the game. The ultimate play was to make it to the top and keep his career soaring. At the moment, the Irish jockey is known to work with Peter Bowen and Phillip Hobbs.

O’Brien at the races

Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle Grade 3 was the first to fall, a feat the jockey achieved while riding Silk Affair in 2009. 2013 was a great year too, where O’Brien grabbed the Betfred Becher Handicap Chase (Grade 3) with all the honours going to Chance Du Roy. 2017 hasn’t been bad at all either, with the Irishman already on two major wins and oh.

O’Brien’s pay dirt doesn’t look half bad, with some big money pay offs popping up now and then. For instance, Coral Welsh National (Handicap Chase) Grade 3(2009) brought home £57,010. Betfred Becher Handicap Chase (Grade 3) grossed £84,405 in December 2013. Probably best to invest that wad, wouldn’t you say?

 

John Francome was a successful national hunt jockey, who has now transitioned into a popular racing presenter. Born in Decmber 1952 in Wiltshire, Francome is one of those who found racing ‘the hard way’. There was no line of jockeys, trainers or owners in his family, it was a case of finding his own way through luck as much as anything else – because he didn’t have an instant interest in racing, it was more about making ends meet.

 

 

“I’d done a bit of work in a car repair factory, but he advertised for stable lads and I went along. If it hadn’t worked out I’d have gone back to working on cars or a career in building. It was just that Lambourn was close to where I lived in Swindon, so off I went at 16. I’d have struggled to name a jockey, I just wasn’t interested. ” recalled Francome earlier this year.

 

Starting out as an apprentice for Fred Winter, it was quickly clear that Francome had an aptitude for the sport of horse racing. This quickly led to him becoming one of the most successful national hunt jockeys there ever was (even though a Grand National win remained sadly elusive for him). Memorable wins include a Cheltenham Gold Cup victory in 1978 on  the heavily backed Midnight Court. In total he racked up 1138 wins over his career and was Champion Jockey on a multitude of occasions.

 

Following his successeful career in racing, Francombe went on to present for Channel 4. This enabled him to keep in the mix and a part of something that played such an important part of his life for so long. Now also an author, Francome was awarded an MBE in the mid 80s, which goes to show how respected he is in the sport. Newbury racecourse even named a race after him last year – the John Francome Novices’ Chase.