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.