Category: Jockeys

Apprentice jockeys, in Flat racing, and conditional jockeys, in National Hunt racing, are jockeys aged between 16 and 25 years of age, who have ridden a limited number of winners. To compensate for their lack of experience, in some, but not all, races, they can claim a weight allowance when riding against fully licensed professionals.

The weight allowance is simply deducted from the weight allotted to the horse due to be ridden by the jockey in question; a horse allotted 9st 7lb, due to be ridden by an apprentice claiming 3lb, would actually carry 9st 4lb, and so on. The only proviso is that if the weight allowance takes the weight allotted below the minimum riding weight of the jockey, he or she is unable to claim the full allowance.

Apprentices with fewer than 95 winners can claim 3lb, thise with fewer than 40 winners can claim 5lb and those with fewer than 20 winners can claim 7lb. Similarly, conditional jockeys with fewer than 75 winners can claim 3lb, those with fewer than 40 winners can claim 5lb and those with fewer than 20 winners can claim 7lb. Additionally, conditional jockeys wih fewer than five winners can claim an extra 3lb, making 10lb in total, when riding for their own stable.

The Welsh Grand National was founded in 1895 at Ely Racecourse in western Cardiff – which, in its time, was the most important racecourse in Wales – where it remained until horse racing at Ely came to an end in 1939. The race wasn’t run again until 1948, at Caerleon Racecourse, on the northern outskirts of Newport, but that course also closed later the same year.

The Welsh Grand National was transferred to Chepstow Racecourse in 1949 and has remained at the Monmouthshire venue ever since. The inaugural running at Chepstow was won by Fighting Line, trained by Ken Cundell, father of Peter, and ridden by none other than Richard Stanley ‘Dick’ Francis. Of course, Francis would go on to ride 350 winners and win the National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship in 1953/54 but, having only turned professional the previous April, the Welsh Grand National was his most important win to date.

Francis would have won the Grand National proper, too, but for the inexplicable collapse of his mount, Devon Loch, on the run-in in the closing stages of the 1956 renewal. The shadow of the water jump, the noise of the crowd, false ground and cramp have all been blamed for the puzzling incident, but ESB, the principal beneficiary, was arguably the luckiest National winner in history.

At the time of writing, Lanfranco ‘Frankie’ Dettori, 50, has recently demonstrated that he is no back number when it comes to Classic success by riding Mother Earth, trained by Aidan O’Brien, to victory in the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket. The evergreen Italian veteran had previously won the first fillies’ Classic three times before, but his past victories, on Cape Verdi (1998), Kazzia (2002) and Blue Bunting (2011), all came during his time as a retained jockey for Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin operation.

All told, Dettori has won 20 English Classics, most of them in the iconic royal blue silks of Godolphin. However, after his retainer came to an end in 2013 and he returned from a six-month worldwide ban for failing a drugs test, Dettori worked his way back to the top of his profession in a freelance capacity. In 2015, won his second Derby, on Golden Horn, trained by John Gosden, and the following year his third 2,000 Guineas on Galileo Gold, trained by Hugo Palmer. Since then, Dettori has ridden his fourth and fifth Oaks’ winners, Enable and Anapurna, in 2017 and 2019, respectively, and his sixth St. Leger winner, Logician, in 2019. All three horses were trained by John Gosden.