Category: Jockeys

How many winners did Harry Skelton ride in 2020/21?

On Saturday, April 24, 2021, Harry Skelton was crowned champion jump jockey for the first time, with 152 winners. His achievement was made all the more remarkable by the fact that he rode almost exclusivey for his elder brother, Dan, who provided him with 136 winners during the 2020/21 campaign. In fact, aside from his brother, Harry Skelton had ten or more rides for just one other trainer, Paul Nicholls, although the 12-time champion trainer did provide him with three winners.

Skelton did, however make the most of his opportunities for other yards, racking up 16 winners from 68 ‘outside’ rides, at a strike rate of 22%. He also finished the campaign very strongly indeed, riding 23 winners in February, 31 in March and 23 in April, which allowed him to overhaul reigning champion Brian Hughes – who had led 126-120 with four weeks of the season remaining – in the race for the jockeys’ title.

Interviewed early in the 2021/22 National Hunt season, Harry Skelton was keen to point out that he is ‘more than just the jockey’ at Lodge Hill Stables and, consequently, acknowledged that it would be ‘very difficult’ to defend the jockeys’ title. However, he did not entirely rule out the possibility of doing so, saying, ‘Of course, I’d love to win it again, but I have to look at the big picture. I want the whole business to thrive.’

Which current jockey has won the Grand National most often?

The most successful jockey in the history of the Grand National was George Stevens, who rode five winners between 1856 and 1870. However, in the last two decades or so, the most successful jockeys in the Grand National have been Ruby Walsh, Leighton Aspell and Davy Russell, all of whom have ridden two winners apiece. Walsh won on Papillon, trained by his father, Ted, in 2000 and Hedgehunter, trained by Willie Mullins, in 2005. Aspell won back-to-back renewals in 2014 and 2015 on Pineau De Re, trained by Richard Newland, and Many Clouds, trained by Oliver Sherwood, respectively, while Davy Russell did likewise in 2018 and 2019 on Tiger Roll, trained by Gordon Elliott.

Of course, Ruby Walsh and Leighton Aspell have now retired, Walsh in May, 2019, immediately after winning the Punchestown Gold Cup, and Aspell in February, 2020, with much less fanfare, at Fontwell. Davy Russell, 42, was also urged to retire from race riding by Michael O’Leary, owner of Tiger Roll, after sustaining serious spinal injuries in a fall in the Munster National at Limerick in October, 2020. However, having missed most of the 2020/21 National Hunt season, Russell – who has been riding out for Gordon Elliott – announced in August, 2021, that he would be returning to the saddle ‘in a fortnight or so’. When he does, he will have the distinction of being the current jockey who has won the Grand National most often.

 

Who was the first female jockey to win a British steeplechase?

Diana Thorne is one of the twin daughters of John Thorne, who was 54 years old when he finished second in the ‘fairytale’ Grand National of 1981 on his own horse, Spartan Missile, on whom he’d won the Foxhunters’ Chase, over the National fences, in 1978 and 1979. She was also married to six-time British National Hunt Champion Trainer Nicky Henderson for 28 years, but eventually moved out of the marital home at Seven Barrows in Lambourn, Berkshire in 2006.

However, Diana Thorne found fame in her own right when, in February, 1976, she became the first woman to ride a winner under National Hunt rules. She was, in fact, only the second women to compete against the men but, in the Nimrod Hunter Chase at Stratford, on her very first ride under rules, she won on Ben Ruler, owned by her father.

Indeed, having ridden a patient, well-judged race, Diana Thorne eventually got the better of Air General, ridden by her father – who was, at the time, a sprightly 49-year-old – winning by a neck in a photo-finish. Having made up 15 lengths on the leaders from the third-last fence, Diana Thorne said afterwards, ‘I wasn’t worried because Ben Ruler always needs to have his breather and then finishes well’.

 

How many rides has Rachael Blackmore had in the Grand National?

Formerly a successful amateur jockey, Rachael Blackmore turned professional in 2015 and, in 2017, became Irish Champion Conditional Jockey. The following year she had her first ride in the Grand National, parting company with her mount, Alpha Des Obeax, trained by Michael ‘Mouse’ Morris, at The Chair, the penultimate fence of the first circuit. In 2019, she completed the Grand National Course for the first time, finishing tenth of 19 finishers, beaten 33¼ lengths, on Valseur Lido, trained by Henry De Bromhead.

Of course, the 2020 Grand National was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but Blackmore was back at Aintree in 2021, aboard Minella Times. Fresh from becoming the first female jockey to win the Ruby Walsh Trophy at the Cheltenham Festival, Blackmore made steady headway on the 11/1 chance from early on the second circuit and took a narrow lead on the turn for home. The rest, as they say, is history. Having held a definite advantage over the final fence, Minella Times stayed on to beat stable companion Balko Des Flos by 6½ lengths, thereby making Blackmore the first female jockey to win the Grand National, on just her third attempt. Readers might like to spare a thought for the recently-retired Richard Johnson, who rode in the Grand National 21 times between 1997 and 2019 and never finished better than second.

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