The legendary pilot, who racked up a multitude of second placed finishes behind AP McCoy for two decades, finally got his jockey title success in the 2015-16 season after McCoy had hung up his riding boots. Richard Johnson - 25 wins - 7/1įour-time champion jockey Richard Johnson is the only other National Hunt rider to have over 200 rides this season, but with the lowest strike rate of the frontrunners (12%), Johnson's quest for a fifth crown could be something of a damp squib this season. Having had almost half the rides Hughes has had emphasises Cobden's spectacular strike rate of 24%, but while the classy rider has banged in the winners with relative ease this season, and he is likely to win a host of top notch races throughout the season, he could ultimately falter due to his lack of rides during the National Hunt campaign, and he may just come up short against Hughes. With 35 wins from 143 rides amassed already, Cobden has shown glimpses that he could be a huge contender this season for the Jump jockeys' crown, and he is next in the betting at 6/4. One jockey that will be having some huge rides in top Grade 1 races throughout the season is Harry Cobden, who has the luxury of riding a host of top-class Paul Nicholls-trained runners, and with the Ditcheat team having made a fine start to the season, stable jockey Cobden has made a blistering start. His consistency to notch several winners a week is the reason he is available at odds-on, and it's hard to not see him fighting it out for glory, injuries permitting, so Hughes certainly sets the standard. While he has tasted Cheltenham Festival glory before, Hughes may not have the firepower that some of his rivals have at their disposal in the big races, but what Hughes lacks in quality he thrives in quantity, and in particular racking up doubles and trebles during the week. With over 250 rides under his belt already, Hughes is by far the busiest rider, and still at his dominant best in the north, Hughes is sure to maintain a steady flow of winners over the next six months. Brian Hughes - 42 wins - 4/6Īmassing a winning total of 141 winners last season, Brian Hughes has made a superb start to the season, notching up 42 winners at the time of writing, and the classy jockey is currently odds-on with the bookmakers to retain the Jump jockeys' crown. The race for the trophy is already well under way, with 2019/20 champion Brian Hughes topping the table, but the northern-based jockey faces some lively adversaries, and the betting in particular looks particularly lively, and it should deliver a fantastic sideshow over the coming months. In the background of all the action on the track, there's an exciting battle brewing in the Jump Jockeys' Championship, as a host of the top riders battle it out to be crowned champion jockey, and we pick out five leading candidates for the honour here. In fact, the closest McCoy ever came to being usurped as Champion Jockey was in 2005/06, when Richard Johnson finished 11 winners behind.Steve Chambers takes a look at the front runners for this year's Jumps Jockeys' Championship.Īs we head towards November, the National Hunt season is clicking into gear and with the likes of the Charlie Hall Chase, Paddy Power Gold Cup and Ladbrokes Trophy on the horizon, the jumping sphere is going to serve up some mouth-watering treats over the coming weeks. Nevertheless, Bridgwater finished 45 winners behind McCoy, Murphy 58 behind and Osbourne and Maguire 44 and 41 winners behind, respectively. Likewise, Timmy Murphy also signed a retainer with Champion Owner David Johnson in 2004, replacing McCoy, who left Pipe in favour of a more lucrative retainer with the J.P. Apart from Johnson, the four other jockeys to play ‘second fiddle’ to the perennial champion were David Bridgwater in 1995/96, Jamie Osbourne in 1997/98, Timmy Murphy in 2004/05 and Jason Maguire in 2012/13.īridgwater was, at the time, stable jockey to Martin Pipe, with whom McCoy would subsequently form a partnership that would dominate National Hunt racing for nearly a decade. Richard Johnson OBE famously finished runner-up in the National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship in 16 of those 20 seasons but, following McCoy’s retirement, at the end of the 2014/15 season, became Champion Jockey himself in 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017//19.
Sir Anthony Peter McCoy, popularly known as ‘A.P.’, was Champion Conditional Jockey in 1994/95 and, thereafter, Champion National Hunt Jockey in each of the 20 seasons he rode as a fully-fledged professional in Britain.