Jockeys

On February 9, 2017, an inquest at Westminster Coroner’s Court heard that Walter Robert John Swinburn died on December 12, 2016 after suffering a fatal head injury in a fall from the bathroom window of his maisonette in Belgravia, Central London. He was found, wearing just his underwear, by his father, former Irish champion jockey Walter Robert ‘Wally’ Swinburn, on a courtyard 12 feet below the window but, while police and paramedics attended, he was pronounced.

Swinburn Jnr., a divorced father-of-two, had suffered post-traumatic epilepsy since seriously injured when his mount, Liffey River, cannoned into the running rail shortly after the start of the Alberta Plate at Sha Tin, Hong Kong, throwing him violently to the ground. One that occasion, he was knocked unconscious, broke some ribs and a collar bone, punctured a lung and was in a coma, in intensive care, for four days. The exact circumstances of his death remain a mystery but, returning a verdict of accidental death, Coroner Dr. Shirley Radcliffe said, ‘It seems to me there is little doubt this tragic death was due to an accident.’

Police constable Daniel Scott of the Metroplitan Police, who attended the scene, said, ‘There was no indication of third party involvement.’ Likewise, while Swinburn had been prescribed high doses of anti-convulsant drugs, toxicology reports showed nothing untoward in his system and, according to Dr. Radcliffe, ‘He was clearly not intoxicated.’

Of course, Swinburn will always be best remembered for his association with the ultimately ill-fated Shergar, owned by HH Aga Khan IV and trained by Michael Stoute, in the days before his knighthood. On June 3, 1981, as a lithe 19-year-old – nicknamed ‘The Choirboy’ because of his boyish looks – Swinburn steered the son of Great Nephew to an effortless, 10-length win in the Derby at Epsom. That record-breaking victory became all the more poignant when, in February 1983, Shergar was kidnapped from Ballymany Stud in Co. Kildare by an armed gang and never seen again. He is believed to have fallen victim to the Irish Republican Army (IRA), but no-one has ever claimed resposibility for his kidnapping and his remains have never been found.

Born in Oxford on August 7 1961, Swinburn become apprenticed to trainer Herbert ‘Frenchie’ Nicholson – the father of David Nicholson – straight from school and later to Reg Hollinshead, before becoming stable jockey to Michael Stoute, who, immediately after his death, said, ‘He was

The most amazing natural talent.’ Relatively tall for a Flat jockey, at 5’7″, Swinburn fought the control his weight throughout his career, but, at the time of his eventual retirement from the saddle in 2000, won a total of eight British Classics, including two more Derbies, on Shahrastani in 1986 and Lammtarra in 1995. Other international victories included the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on All Along in 1983 and the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Pilsudski in 1996.

However, as Sir Michael Stoute later said of Swinburn, ‘The big days were what he lived for, and he produced the goods on them on so many occasions.’ Notwithstanding the fact that he was in direct competition with the likes of Lester Piggott, Pat Eddery, Willie Carson and Steve Cauthen, that propensity for the big stage may account, in part, for his failure to become champion jockey. Four years after hanging up his riding boots, in 2004, he took over the training licence from his then father-in-law Peter Harris and, in seven full seasons at the helm at Church Farm in Tring, Hertfordshire sent out over 260 winners. Ironically, Swinburn enjoyed his most successful season as a trainer in 2010, when he saddled 52 winners, but handed in his licence in 2011, when Harris decided to sell his string, thereby rendering the operation financially unviable.

Since 2015, because of concerns about the health and well-being of participants, the Flat Jockeys’ Championship has been decided on the number of winners ridden during a foreshortened season. That season runs from the Guineas Festival at Newmarket to British Champions Day at Ascot or, in other words, in 2024, from May 4 until October 19, which equates to exactly 24 weeks.

Not entirely surprisingly, according to bookmakers, the leading contenders for the 2024 Flat Jockeys’ Championship are the top five from 2023 competition, who are priced up according to their respective finishing positions. Last year’s runaway winner, William Buick, is priced up at 1/2 to win his third title in a row, after chalking up 135 winners from 616 rides, at a healthy 22% strike rate, in 2023. Retained by Godolphin since January 2015, Buick rides as first jockey for Charlie Appleby, so, with plenty of ammunition at his disposal, looks a worthy favourite.

Of course, Buick may faced renewed opposition from his old rival, Oisin Murphy, who was handed a 12-month suspension by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) in February 2022, after a sequence of misdemeanours, but had previously been Champion Jockey in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Murphy rode 168, 142 and 153 winners, respectively, in those three seasons and 106 following his return to action in 2023, so, at 3/1, appeals as one of the more likely winners.

Beyond the front pair in the betting, Rossa Ryan (4/1) lost his retainer with Kia Joorabchian in August 2022, but that didn’t stop him finishing third in the Flat Jockeys’ Championship, with 104 winners, in 2023. Indeed, he finished the calendar year as the most prolific jockey in the country, ahead of both Buick and Murphy, so his chance of becoming Champion Jockey should not be underestimated. Husband and wife pair Tom Marquand (8/1) and Hollie Doyle (16/1) can always be relied upon to give their all, while, at much bigger prices, potential ‘dark horses’ include three-time former Champion Jockey Ryan Moore and former Champion Apprentice Billy Loughnane (both 66/1).

Of course, the Conditional Jockeys’ Championship is contested by relatively inexperienced, professional jockeys, under the age of 26, who have ridden not more than 75 winners under the Rules of Racing. In 2023/24, the Championship, which is decided on the number of winners ridden under National Hunt Rules, runs from May 1, 2023 until the Bet365 Jump Finale, at Sandown Park, on April 27, 2024.

At the time of writing, with exactly three months of the season remaining, the leading riders looking to succeed the now-retired Luca Morgan as British Champion Conditional Jockey are Patrick Wadge, Bradley Harris and Toby Wynne. Wadge, who is employed by Lucinda Russell at Arlay House in Milnathort, Kinross in the Scottish Lowlands, didn’t ride his first winner until May 2022, but has reportedly impressed assistant trainer Peter Scudamore in the interim. In 2022/23, he added another 29 winners to his career total and in 2023/24 so far has ridden 24 more to sit atop the Conditional Jockeys’ Championship table.

Narrowly second best, with 23 winners, is Bradley Harris, who began his riding career on the Flat, as apprentice to Andrew Balding and Roger Fell, before turning his attention to National Hunt racing. Based at the Sutton Veny yard of Milton Harris – which is currently in the hands of assistant trainer Tony Charlton, following Harris’ interim suspension by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) – Harris is another to have made rapid progress, having ridden 14 winners in 2022/23.

In third place, but again only narrowly, lies Toby Wynne, who is based with Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero at Stockton Hall in Malpas, Cheshire. A graduate from the pony racing circuit, Wynne is, like Patrick Wadge, a 3lb claimer, having partnered a career total of 51 winners, 22 of which have come in 2023/24 so far.

For readers unfamiliar with the name, Dylan Kitts is a 22-year-old conditional jockey attached to the Rhonehurst yard of Warren Greatrex in Upper Lambourn, Hungerford, who, in recent months, has been making headlines for the wrong reasons.

In May, 2023, he was banned from riding for 14 days by local stewards for failing to achieve the best possible placing on his mount, Jet Of Dreams, trained by Greatrex, who finished second in a maiden hurdle at Warwick. On that occasion, the in-running comment in the ‘Racing Post’ read, ‘Held up in rear, headway 3 out, soon nudged along, went third but hung left after 2 out, went second final 110yds, no match for winner, eyecatcher’. Greatrex, nonetheless, defended Kitts, saying, ‘In my opinion, he’s ridden that horse like a mature rider and he’s done what I’ve told him to do…He [Kitts] felt he was hanging and was making a [respiratory] noise, which he’s done in the past.’

However, in July, 2023, Kitts was embroiled in further controversy his riding of Hillsin, trained by Chris Honour, who finished third, beaten just 1¼ lengths in a conditional jockeys’ handicap hurdle at Worcester. Once again, the in-running comment in the ‘Racing Post’ was fairly damning, reading, ‘Held up in rear, headway 6th, in touch with leaders after 4 out, going easily but tenderly handled home straight, lost ground 3 out, stayed on and went third run-in, eyecatcher’. Kitts reportedly told local stewards that the gelding had made ‘ a respiratory noise towards the end of the back straight which continued on several more occasions throughout the race’ and ‘also hung badly right-handed’, but Hillsin was suspended from running for 40 days and his jockey referred to the British Horseracing Authority (BHA).

In happier times, Kitts, who claims a weight allowance of 7lb when riding against fully-fledged professionals, has taken 94 rides and ridden 11 winners, seven for Warren Greatrex and four for Herefordshire trainer Tom Lacey. His most recent victory came on Sageburg County, trained by Greatrex, in a handicap chase at Market Rasen on May 12, 2023.