When it comes to horse racing, there is an argument that the jockey is the most important person in terms of getting a horse across the line. Yes, owners pay the money and trainers work with them to improve their stamina and their ability not to get distracted, but the jockeys are the ones literally steering them and telling them when to push and when to drop back. It is why they’re so well-known to us as punters, with many bettors waiting to find out who will be riding which horses before staking their money on a race. There are some jockeys who stand out from the crowd, with this page taking a look at the most famous ones.
AP McCoy
Sir Anthony Peter McCoy, often referred to simply by his initials or as Tony McCoy, was born in Moneyglass, County Antrim in Northern Ireland on the fourth of May 1974. He was just 17-years-old when he rode his first winner, coming courtesy of the training of Jim Bolger, when he took Legal Steps across the line in a flat race at Ireland’s Thurles Racecourse in the March of 1992. For the initial part of his career, McCoy served as an apprentice to Bolger and broke his leg early on. By the time his broken leg had healed, McCoy had grown taller and decided that the best thing to do would be to become a jump jockey.
That might well be the wisest decision that he ever made, with McCoy going on to become one of the most successful National Hunt riders of all time. When he decided to retire, he did so having won 4,358 winners, which is a record, having also set the record for the number of times he was named Champion Jockey consecutively, which was 20. Named BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2010, becoming the first jockey to be handed the award, McCoy was given a knighthood in the January of 2016. There is barely a jump race in Britain or Ireland that McCoy didn’t win during his career, such was his ability as a jockey.
Lester Piggott
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Lester Keith Piggott was born on the 5th of November, 1935 in the market town of Wantage, Berkshire. His family was a racing one, with trainers and jockeys have been in the family since the 18th century. Ernest Piggott, Lester’s grandfather, had won the Grand National three times as a jockey, whilst his father, Keith Piggott, won it as a trainer in 1963. You might think that that was a lot for young Lester to live up to, but he showed no fear when climbing into the saddle at the age of just ten. Even more impressively, his first winner came on the back of a horse called the Chase at Haydock Park when he was only 12-years-old.
Six years later and Piggott had rode his first winner in the Derby, taking Never Say Die across the line in 1954. That was to be the first of a record nine wins in the Classic, allowing the jockey to help expand horse racing’s appeal beyond the previous class-based origins of the sport. He was known as the ‘Long Fellow’ on account of being quite tall for a flat racing jockey, standing at five foot seven inches, but he pioneered a new way of racing that others soon followed. Named Champion Jockey 11 times, Piggott achieved 4,493 wins on the flat before he retired. In 1987 he was convicted of tax fraud, serving a year in prison. He died in 2022.
Frankie Dettori
If you want to talk about jockeys with personality then you’d be hard-pushed to took any further than ‘Frankie’ Dettori. Born in Milan, Italy on the 15th of December, 1970, Lanfranco ‘Frankie’ Dettori was the son of an Italian champion jockey, so racing was very much in his blood. He left Italy to head to Newmarket was a 14-year-old, working as a stable lad and then an apprentice jockey, finally becoming the stable jockey of Luca Cumani and winning the the title of British Champion Apprentice Jockey in 1989. Six years later and Sheikh Mohammed needed a stable jockey for his newly created Godolphin Racing, with Dettori getting the job.
That allowed him to ride some of the finest horses in the sport, taking him to 287 Group 1 wins, including 23 Classics. He was named the British Flat Racing Champion Jockey three times, yet there is no question that his most impressive achievement came at Ascot Racecourse. Dettori was down to ride in all seven races on British Festival of Racing Day on the 28th of September, 1996, winning all seven races. It was a stunning achievement that saw him enter the record books, to say nothing of the hearts of countless punters who had decided to stake a wager on him completing the ‘Magnificent Seven’ that day.
Ruby Walsh
Rupert Walsh, better known as ‘Ruby’, was born on the 14th of May, 1979 in County Kildare, Ireland. He showed talent in the saddle from an early age, winning the Irish Amateur title as an 18-year-old and then again a year later. If horse racing had been sleeping on Walsh’s ability then the sport sat up and took notice in 2000, with the Irish jockey winning the Grand National at the first time of asking, taking Papillon home in the famous race at Aintree. He won the Irish Grand National in the same year, very much announcing himself as one of the finest jockeys of his generation; something that would go on to be proved as fact.
During the 2004-2005 season, Walsh won the Irish Grand National on Numbersixvalverde, the Welsh Grand National on Silver Birch and the English Grand National on Hedgehunter. He only missed out on the Scottish Grand National by a short head. During a career that spanned more than 20 years, Walsh rode over 2,500 winners, which included 59 at the Cheltenham Festival. His most prolific year was 2009, riding a record-breaking seven winners over the week. There is barely a horse race in the country that Walsh didn’t win, going on to become the third-most prolific winner in the history of British and Irish jump racing.
Ryan Moore
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Born in Brighton on the 18th of September, 1983, Ryan Lee Moore was named Champion Jockey in 2006, 2008 and 2009. That is partly owing to the fact that he was named the first-choice jockey of Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle stable, meaning that he rides many of the best horses that are owned by Coolmore Stud. The only jockey on this list that is still active, Moore rides for both the Royal Family and Juddmonte from time to time. Boasting the most British Group and Listed winners of any jockey that is currently riding, he has ridden nearly 200 Group 1 or Grade 1 winners on the international stage at the time of writing.
In some ways, Moore’s success as a jockey might have been predictable. The grandson of the trainer Charlie Moore, his father is Gary L. Moore, who was a successful trainer and a jump jockey in his own right. His brothers, Jamie Moore and Joshua Moore, are also jump jockeys, whilst his sister is the amateur jockey Hayley Moore. Given the fact that he has four children, it is likely that the Moore family connection to horse racing will continue for years to come. Her started riding as a four-year-old, but was actually more of a football fan and had trials with Brighton & Hove Albion. It was racing that made him famous, however.
Kieren Fallon
Kieren Francis Fallon was born on the 22nd February, 1965, and would go on to be named the British Champion Jockey six times. Part of the reason for that was that he was named the stable jockey for one of the country’s leading trainers in Henry Cecil in 1997. By the May of that year he’d won his first Classic when he took Sleepytime to victory in the 1,000 Guineas. He was praised by Cecil for his hard work, whilst his riding record was pointed out in an article in the Independent. One of the problems that plagued Fallon during his early years was that he had something of a disciplinary problem, often getting caught out.
By the time the season reached its conclusion, he had ridden 202 winners and been named Champion Jockey for the first time, going on to retain the title across the following two seasons. Despite winning the Derby at Epsom and the Oaks, he was dismissed by Cecil and then became Michael Stoute’s stable jockey. There is an argument that Fallon might be better considered ‘infamous’ rather than ‘famous’, given the fact that in 2004 he was accused of race fixing, the two years later was charged for conspiracy to defraud. The first accusation was later abandoned and the second was thrown out of court, but his name was well-known by then regardless.
Pat Eddery
Born on the 18th of March, 1952, Patrick James John Eddery grew up in Newbridge, County Kildare. The fact that the Curragh Racecourse was less than two miles from his birthplace might well have pointed to a career in racing being almost certain for him, with young ‘Pat’ dreaming of winning the Derby from an early age. His apprenticeship began with Seamus McGrath, riding for the first time in the August of 1967 and coming last. A move to England followed, with Eddery soon working as an apprentice to Frenchie Nicholson, recording his first win on Alvaro on Epsom Downs Racecourse in the April.
It is fair to say that his time in the saddle improved with each passing year, with Eddery going on to claim 11 championship titles during his career. His last title came in 1996, with the rider being determined to reclaim it after spending most of the latter part of the year racing abroad instead of England, meaning that he missed the all-purpose track racing that had been introduced and took place in November. He rode countless winners on the flat, winning some of the biggest races in the sport, such as the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Eddery died on the 10th of November, 2015.
Peter Scudamore
Known as ‘Scu’, Peter Michael Scudamore was born on the 13th of June, 1958. Although he would go on to become a well-known and much respected trainer, it was his work in the saddle that allowed him to make a name for himself in the horse racing industry. There was an extent to which he had to make a name for himself, given the fact that he was emerging from a racing family. Michael Scudamore, his father, had also been a jockey, winning the Grand National on Oxo in 1958. His first competitive ride came in 1958, kick-starting a 15-year career that would see him break numerous records in the world of jump racing.
He certainly benefitted from the fact that he was the stable jockey for Martin Pipe, the relationship between the two lasting through the 1980s into the 1990s. By the time he retired, he had set what was then an all-time career record of 1,678 wins, as well as the most wins in a single season with 221. It is worth bearing in mind that the success that he enjoyed came before the National Hunt moved to being a year-round thing, meaning that his opportunities were fewer than later jockeys. He was Champion Jockey eight times, winning 13 Cheltenham Festival races, although he didn’t win any of the Grand National, Cheltenham Gold Cup nor the King George VI Chase.
Richard Johnson
Any list of famous jockeys would be incomplete without making mention of Richard Johnson, the second-most prolific winner in the history of the National Hunt. Only AP McCoy won more races than Johnson did, with the Hereford-born jockey riding more than 3,500 winners. Born on the 21st July, 1977, he was part of a racing family, on account of the fact that his father was an amateur jockey and his mother was a successful trainer. His bid to become a professional jockey was supported by David Nicholson, with his first winner under rules coming on Rusty Bridge in the April of 1994. He was soon named Champion Conditional Jockey.
The 1996-1997 season saw Johnson ride 102 winners, which was the first time of many that he rode more than 100 winners in the same season. He was particularly successful at the Cheltenham Festival, winning the likes of the Stayers’ Hurdle, the Queen Mother Champion Chase and the 2000 Cheltenham Gold Cup. He set a record riding in the Grand National 21 times, which was also a record for the number of times without riding a winner. He came close twice, finishing second on What’s Up Boys in 2002 and second again on Balthazar King in 2014. The National is one of the only notable races in the UK that Johnson didn’t win.
Davy Russell
David Niall Russell was born on the 27th of June, 1979, in Youghal, County Cork and was the second-youngest of six children. His father was a racehorse owner, with young ‘Davy’ enjoying riding on his pony and helping with father with the horses. He spent four years riding in point-to-point events in Ireland, with his first win coming in the February of 1999. Having also worked in a fish factory at the time, Russell took the leap to move to England and work with the trainer, Ferdy Murphy, in 2002. His first win as a professional jockey came later that year in a race for novice hurdlers at Sedgefield Racecourse on a horse called Inn Antique.
It is fair to say that part of the reason as to why Davy Russell became such a famous jockey was his success in the biggest races. He won his first race at the Cheltenham Festival in 2006 and won at least one race every year bar one between then and 2020. That included the 2014 Cheltenham Gold Cup win on Lord Windermere. Between 2007 and 2013, Russell was the stable jockey at Gigginstown House Stud, continued to ride for them on occasion after that. It is almost certainly his relationship with Tiger Roll that he will be best-remembered for, though. He became the first jockey to win back-to-back Grand Nationals on the same horse since Brian Fletcher on Red Rum in 1974.