Jockeys

Thomas Geoffrey ‘Tom’ Scudamore announced his shock retirement, with immediate effect, on February 16, 2023, shortly after being unseated from Ya Know Yaseff, trained by David Pipe, in a novices’ handicap chase at Leicester. Scudamore had previously suffered concussion when his mount, Royal Defender, was brought down in a ‘bumper’ at Chepstow on February 3 and, having received ‘a right kicking’ at Leicester, he had few qualms about hanging up his boots. Reflecting on his spur-of-the-moment decision, Scudamore said, ‘At my age [40] you have to be careful. I feel I have had a bit of a warning.’

Scudamore, the son of eight-time champion National Hunt jockey Peter, rode his last winner, Pachacuti, also trained by Pipe, in a handicap hurdle at Fakenham on February 2, 2023. All told, he rode 1,499 winners under National Hunt Rules, all bar one on British soil, making him the tenth most profilic Jump jockey of all time in Great Britain and Ireland. He enjoyed his most successful season, numerically, in 2014/15, when he rode 150 winners and finished third in the National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship.

Scudamore effectively rode his first ‘winner’ of any description, Nordic Breeze, trained by Martin Pipe, in an amateur riders’ handicap on the Flat at Warwick on July 3, 1998. However, Nordic Breeze, who was beaten five lengths, was only awarded the race after an investigation by the British Amateur Jockeys’ Association revealed that the first past the post, Broughtons Lure, was ridden by former American professional Angel Monserrate, masquerading as amateur ‘Angel Jacobs’.

Over obstacles, Scudamore rode his first winner, Young Thruster, trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies, in an amatuer riders’ novices’ hurdle at Newton Abbott on November 4, 1998. He was champion amateur rider in 2000/01 and, having turned professional, rode his first winner in the paid ranks, Belle D’Anjou, also trained by Martin Pipe, in a handicap hurdle at Chepstow on October 6, 2001.

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.

Of course, the Derby Stakes was famously founded by Sir Charles Bunbury and Edward Smith-Stanley, the Twelfth Earl of Derby, in 1780 and reputedly named in honour of the latter after a (probably apocryphal) coin toss between the pair. The race has always been run at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey, but the first four renewals were staged on a straight, one-mile course; the wide, sweeping, left-handed turn into the straight, known as Tattenham Corner, did not become a feature of the Derby course until 1784, when the distance was extended to a mile and a half. Similarly, the Derby has always been open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies, although nowadays the race conditions stipluate ‘entire’ colts only; geldings have been excluded since 1904.

The Derby is the most prestigious of the five British Classics – the other four being the 2,000 Guineas, 1,000 Guineas, Oaks and St. Leger – and, with the winner collecting £892,160, at the last count, far and away the most valuable. Despite being run on the famously undulating, switchback track at Epsom, the Derby is supposed to produce a winner that is the outstanding middle-distance performer of a generation, whose name is, accordingly, etched into the annals of racing history. Nevertheless, for all the prestige and value of the ‘Blue Riband’ event, the names of winning fillies on the Derby roll of honour are few and far between, especially since the turn of the twentieth century.

In fact, the last filly to contest, never mind win, the Derby was Cape Verdi, way back in 1998. Owned by Goldolphin and trained by Saeed bin Suroor, the daughter of Caerleon, from the family of Nijinsky, justified joint-favouritism in the 1,000 Guineas when hacking up by 5 lengths on her first outing in the now-famous royal blue silks. Consequently, she was sent off as clear 11/4 favourite at Epsom, ahead of Grand Criterium winner Second Empire, trained by Aidan O’Brien, but, in truth, never really figured. Held up early, she met trouble in running on the descent into Tattenham Corner, but looked a non-stayer as she weakened inside the final quarter of a mile, eventually finishing ninth of 15, 12 lengths behind the eventual winner, High-Rise.

Overall, in 244 runnings of the Derby, so far, including the substitute races run at Newmarket between 1915 and 1918, during World War I, and between 1940 and 1945, during World War II, just six fillies – or, in other words, less than 0.25% of all the winners – have been victorious. The first of them was Eleanor, owned by the aforementioned Sir Charles Bunbury, in 1801 and she followed, in chronological order, by Blink Bonny in 1857, Shotover in 1882, Signorinetta in 1908, Tagalie in 1912 and Fifinella in 1916. The last-named, trained by Richard ‘Dick’ Dawson, won the so-called ‘New Derby Stakes’ at Newmarket on May 30, 1916 and followed up in the ‘New Oaks Stakes’, over the same course and distance, two days later. Thus, the last filly to win an ‘authentic’ Derby, over the traditional course and distance on Epsom Downs, was Tagalie in 1912.

Notwithstanding the existence of the Oaks Stakes, run over the same course and distance as the Derby, the dearth of fillies in the principal Classic essentially boils down to the commercial realities of the bloodstock industry. A colt that wins the Derby can command eye-watering stud fees as a stallion and, potentially, cover hundreds of mares a year. The 2009 Derby winner, Sea The Stars, for example, is currently standing at the Gilltown Stud, in Kilcullen, Co. Kildare for €200,000. By contrast, a filly that wins the Derby can only produce one foal a year as a broodmare and, as such, is a much less valuable commodity.

Who hasn’t heard of Frankie Dettori? Probably one of the most popular race riders ever to have ridden a horse in the UK.

To be fair, I have no idea what a top-ranked jockey earns.

But how much can a jockey earn over their lifetime?

Obviously it is in the millions.

But which country has the high earners? I was surprised to find that most of the top jockeys come from the United States and particularly Japan. In fact, their financial status dwarfs all other countries with 41 of the 50 top earners from those two power houses.

Here’s a question: ‘Is there a jockey so talented, with big, bigger, biggest earnings which comes pretty close to being a billionaire?’

Have you heard of Japanese jockey extraordinaire Yutake Take?

I remember him riding in the UK but never realised he was so successful or rich. With career wins totalling 4,408 he’s amassed a whopping bank balance of $925 million.

Pretty close to the billion, hey.

They say like father like son, and his Dad was also a jockey called ‘The Wizard of the Turf’.

Yutake Take was born in 1969. He made his riding debut in 1987. Within the year, he had ridden 69 winners which had never been seen before by a rookie. The following year he achieved 100 winners. Two years later he was crowned champion jockey, an accolade he held continuously until 1999 (bar 1991).

Race horse Deep Impact saw the jockey achieve the pinnacle of racing in 2005 winning the Japanese Triple Crown.

Other significant horses he rode include: Air Groove, Oguri Cap, Kane Hikili, Kitasan Black, Kizuna, Mejiro McQueen, Silence Suzuka, Smart Falcon, Special Week and Super Creek.

In addition, he has raced at all major countries including: United Kingdom, France, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates.

He has many honours including JRA Grand Prize Jockey, JRA Award for Best Jockey (newcomer), JRA Award for Best Jockey (races won), JRA Award for Best Jockey (winning average), JRA Award for Best Jockey (money earned) & JRA Special Award.

His personal life he is married.

His brother, Koshiro, who was a successful jockey and now trainer.

Today Yutake Take is a legend in Japan.