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.
