Jockey of the Year

And Jockey of the Year is ... well, from our point of view it has to be William Kennedy (pictured in my Godolphin blue colours on Kadouchski at Huntingdon on Boxing Day). We don't have a stable jockey, Flat or National Hunt, as small stables can't justify such a situation - the only jockeys who would make a stable this size their first priority would be ones whom one probably wouldn't want - but William over jumps is the closest we could get to it. And he is very good to us indeed. So I'm particularly pleased that he enjoyed a very good 2009, even though it probably wasn't as good a 2009 as his merit would deserve. On Channel Four recently John Francome said that William doesn't ride as many winners as he should (which at face value is far from a compliment, but I know that John meant it as one) and I share John's opinion that William's skills are under-appreciated. Even so, he rode some nice winners at both Cheltenham and Aintree, including a win on Time For Rupert at the Grand National winner when (to my unbiased eye!) he outrode Ruby Walsh on a Nicholls-trained favourite and overall he did enjoy a fair degree of success. And if there is any justice he'll enjoy even more in 2010 and beyond.

The only problem with William, of course, is that he has a bad habit of making himself unavailable when we need him, but one can't have everything. This habit was particularly noticeable when Anis won her bumper at Uttoxeter: William actually rode at Uttoxeter that day, but had left before her race! The nice thing, though, is that (I think that) he knows that I'm joking when I (frequently) complain to him about this, because even I understand that no man can either be in two places or ride two horses at the same time. Anyway, we're very lucky to receive so much help from William, and you can be sure that any winner he rides is cheered in this household. And we were particularly pleased when he finally got his photograph on the front page of the Racing Post the other week, even if to achieve this honour he did have to sneak into the background when Richard Johnson was presented with a prize for riding his 2,000th winner. Unsurprisingly, William did resist the temptation to ruin the photograph by making rabbit ears behind Richard's head, which was just as well because Richard Johnson appears only to have reached the milestone of his 2,000th winner once - unlike Tony McCoy, who managed to ride his 3,000th winner three times, which was rather strange. (I don't for one second believe that it was his choice that the media went so overboard about this, whooping it up when he (a) rode his 3,000th winner (b) rode his 3,000th National Hunt winner and (c) rode his 3,000th winner in Britain). I think the press actually missed a trick, because surely there must have been a fourth milestone: his 3,000th National Hunt winner in Britain. Or maybe I'd just tuned out by the time that one came along.

Tony McCoy can't be overlooked in any riding review of the year, notwithstanding the fact that I don't think he had a ride for us last year (and this is, of course, a purely subjective review) and I'd say that he shares National Hunt Ride of the Year for his winning ride on Wichita Lineman in the National Hunt Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, sharing the award with the excellent Timmy Murphy for his winning ride on Our Vic at Warwick a few weeks ago. Funny how the best rides of the year are always winning ones, isn't it? Or is it just that these awards are never worth the paper that they are written on, because I am sure that any jockey will tell you that he doesn't ride any better when he wins the race than when he doesn't, the only difference being that he's on a better horse (or better-handicapped, or better-trained, or better-placed, or even better drawn) horse when he wins than when he doesn't.

My Flat Ride of the Year (another winner!) goes to Jimmy Fortune for his effort in the November Handicap. That really was one race where the rider made the difference because I think that it did require well above-average assistance from the man on top to get the horse home. And it was particularly praise-worthy because it was on Breeders' Cup Day, when of course a lesser man would have been moping around feeling sorry for himself for the fact that some of his regular rides were going around at Santa Anita without him. It's a fact of (racing) life that we all receive professional setbacks and disappointments from time to time, some deserved and some not; and we have two choices, either to dwell on them and waste time and energy feeling sorry for ourselves, or to put them behind us and get on with doing our job to the best of our ability. Jimmy clearly chose the latter option that weekend and I salute him for it. And I'm sure he'll chose it again now that he has lost his job with John Gosden.

Mind you, my saying that Jimmy Fortune made a difference in the November Handicap brings me on to saying that the jockey made a difference in a couple of the wins which we had. Neither of Ethics Girl's two wins in 2009 would have been victories without 10 out of 10 rides from her jockeys (Alan Munro, who is pictured on board the filly on an occasion when they didn't win, and Richard Mullen). Mind you, we did have a loser during the year who I think would have won with a 5 out of 1o ride from the hoop, so I suppose that, like most aspects of luck, these things even themselves out. To prove my point, though, that losing rides can be perfect, Rab Havlin continues to give us a faultless service every time we use him, his third-placed effort last night on Kadouchski being a case in point. Rab never gets much credit for his consistent excellence, and Darryll Holland nowadays receives far less coverage than used to be the case, despite still being a first-class jockey. George Baker (pictured here on Douchkette at Windsor), too, is another jockey to whom I would be doing a gross disservice if I were to omit him from any review of the year. It speaks volumes for his dedication and professionalism that he can ride as low as 9 stone because he is just about as tall as I am, and it speaks similar volumes for his skill that, not being able to ride below 9 stone, he still rides stacks of winners. Were he 6 inches shorter he'd be champion jockey for sure.

A jockey whose dedication and professionalism at least matched George's (and there aren't many who fall into this category) was Dale Gibson. 2009 was the year on which he called time on his honourable career, and so he deserves a mention in this riding review of the year. It was nice that he rode one of his biggest winners last year, a winner which would have been extra special for him (a) because it was at his local course York (b) because it was on a very special horse, the veteran Caracciola and (c) because the victory owed a great deal to the tactical acumen of the rider. Dale is pictured here, also at York, cantering to post for his final ride. A similar, but younger, jockey is Jerry O'Dwyer, who does extremely well to keep his weight low enough to enable him to forge a career on the Flat. He enjoyed an excellent season, riding several nice winners for John Ryan and Marco Botti (to name but two) and his success was very much deserved.

Another highlight of 2009 was the fact that we received proof that female jockeys can indeed be as good as the best men. This has been plain for a while. A few years ago Lisa Jones demonstrated that the best female apprentices can be as good as the best male apprentices, so logic said that the most talented female riders only needed to have the chance to keep riding often enough and long enough to become as good as the best of their male counterparts. And in 2009 we saw two of them prove that this is indeed the case: Hayley Turner (pictured at the head of his paragraph on Ethics Girl at Folkestone) and Cathy Gannon (pictured on the same filly at Goodwood). Each was a champion apprentice (the latter champion in Ireland and the former joint-champion in Britain) and now each is as good as any of the males. They both enjoyed much success in 2009, and each is surely set for a good year in 2010. Cathy had to miss the last couple of months of the year to have what was clearly quite a major operation on her shoulder, but I have no doubt that she'll be back as good as ever in good time for the start of next turf season.

And finally I should mention one apprentice who really did himself proud during the season. There were, in fact, many who did themselves proud, not least the late Jamie Kyne, who tragically lost his life along with Jan Wilson in the fire in Malton. Neither will be forgotten. Closer to home, Ashley Morgan, apprenticed to Mark Tompkins just around the corner, finished off the season in good style, while Matthew Cosham, even closer to home with Jonathan Jay in Exeter House, has started 2010 in very promising fashion. When we had a runner in an apprentice race we used Marc Halford and he rode well. Louis-Philippe Beuzelin was another to impress me, but particular plaudits go to Ryan Powell. Ryan has been around for a while - I think he was with Sir Mark for a decent length of time - and he has put his experience to good use as he has made himself into a very good rider indeed. He duly received his just reward when being part of the John Ryan bandwagon, riding plenty of winners both for John and on outside rides. He remains a very level-headed, industrious and admirable young rider and puts in long mornings of good work on the Heath every day (as this photograph, taken earlier this week, shows: he is riding down alongside the Moulton Road behind the stable's conditional jockey Jonjo Milczarek, another good rider and good worker) and his career will surely take another big step forward in 2010.