Horse Racing

Riding To Glory – Cheltenham’s Top Jockeys

After four days of merciless competition, the Cheltenham Festival is proud to present its most successful jockeys of the year. Of the hopeful riders who arrived at Cheltenham on Tuesday 16th March, seven leave with their heads held high – but one man’s head can be just a little bit higher.
Ruby Walsh, the jockey everyone was watching from the very first race, has been named as the most successful jockey of the festival for the fourth time in five years. Walsh also now holds the record of most career wins at the Cheltenham Festival, bringing his total to 27 over the former record of 25 held by legendary Arkle jockey Pat Taaffe. The Cheltenham Festival 2010 brought Walsh three victories – on Quevega, Big Buck’s and Sanctuaire – which is a comparatively low number for his extraordinary standards. Last year saw Walsh ride seven winners; this year seemed almost cursed in spite of his obvious success. His three wins were matched by three falls, on Gold Cup favourite Kauto Star, Quel Esprit and tragically and fatally on Citizen Vic.
Barry Geraghty also rode three winners over the last four days: Soldatino, Big Zeb and Spirit River; making him a worthy runner up to the most successful Festival jockey of all time. Geraghty and Walsh are the only riders to manage three wins at this year’s Cheltenham Festival.
However, the two jockeys are closely followed by a group of five who have piloted two horses to victory over the course of the meeting. Amongst them is Ruby Walsh’s sister Katie, who – although riding as an amateur – won both of her starts at Cheltenham, on Poker De Sivola and Thousand Stars. Katie Walsh joins Tony Mc Coy, who rode to victory on Alberta’s Run and Binocular; Paddy Brennan, jockey to winners Imperial Commander and Pigeon Island – both on the last day of the Festival; Richard Johnson, who won the meetings first race on Menorah and scored a win on Copper Bleu; and finally Andrew Lynch, riding first across the line on sizing Europe and Berties’ Dream.