Born in Birmingham on September 25, 1971, Seb Sanders rode his first winner, Band On The Run, in an apprentice maiden stakes race at Pontefract on June 12, 1990. After a modest start to his riding career, he enjoyed a breakthrough season in 1995, when he rode 61 winners, becoming Champion Apprentice and riding out his claim in the process. In 1997, he rode over a hundred winners in a season for the first time, including the first of his eight career Group 1 winners, when Compton Place, trained by James Toller, sprang a 50/1 surprise in the July Cup at Newmarket.
In 2004, Sanders succeeded George Duffield as stable jockey to Sir Mark Prescott and, after riding 165, 142 and 177 winners in 2004, 2005 and 2006, he enjoyed far and away his most successful season numerically in 2007. In the calendar year, he rode 213 winners, of which 190 fell within the ‘traditional’ turf Flat season, on which the jockeys’ championship was decided. The title race went down not just to the final day, but the final race, of the season, which was won by his main rival, Richard Hughes, who thereby earned himself a share of the jockeys’ title.
