It’s less than a week until arguably the biggest and most glamorous event in flat racing, Royal Ascot. That being said we thought we would have a little look at who, in our opinion, are the Top 5 Flat Jockeys at the moment. We understand this is a controversial topic and everyone has their own opinions, but based on current form and overall performances in the last couple of years we have picked our top 5. Please feel free to comment your top 5 in the comment section below
JIM CROWLEY
The current Flat Jockey Champion and No1 rider for owner Sheikh Hamdan al-Maktoum as of November 2016, Jim Crowley makes our top 5 because of his form over the last couple of years. He won the Championship last year with 148 winners, 46 of them came during a record-breaking September for which he set a record of most wins in one month. He is also going through a real purple patch of form riding 8 winners in the last week with 4 of those coming in one day on the 9th June, 3 of those coming at Goodwood which he says is his favourite race track. No doubt he will be looking to retain his title however that could be a tough ask as our next top 5 pick looks almost destined to take the title. By the way, Jim has recently joined twitter so if you want to keep upto date with what he’s doing give him a follow (@JimCrowley1978).
SILVESTRE DE SOUSA
Currently leading the Flat Jockeys Championship by 7 wins Silvestre De Sousa has already established himself as the man to beat this year and he is now odds on favourite to lift the trophy for the second time in his career with his first time coming in 2015. He has recently been nominated for the "Most Popular Jockey" award by Hong Kong Jockey Club Racing (@HKJC_Racing).
RYAN MOORE
Three time Champion Jockey in 2006, 2008 & 2009 and having won 8 British Classics Ryan Moore couldn’t be left out of our list.
Just to name a few of the big races he has won:
1000 Guineas - Three times
2000 Guineas - Twice
Ascot Gold Cup - Twice
Epsom Derby - Twice
Epsom Oaks - Twice
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Twice
Melbourne Cup - Once
He also has an incredible record at Royal Ascot, having won 9 races over the event last year, and only one of those wins was on an odds on favourite. He is odds on favourite to repeat his success this year and be the Top Jockey over Royal Ascot.
WILLIAM BUICK
William Buick is the youngest Jockey in our Top 5 at the age of 28. He shared the champion apprentice jockey title in 2008 and won the Lester Award for Apprentice Jockey of the Year in 2007 and 2008. He is currently retained by Godolphin Racing. One of his most notable wins thus far was on March 28th in 2015 when he rode Prince Bishop, a 12/1 shot, to victory in the Dubai World Cup. He has also won the St Leger twice, in consecutive years, 2010 and 2011. He is currently 4th in the Flat Jockeys Championship boasting a 27% strike rate, the highest out of anyone.
FRANKIE DETTORI (MBE)
This list wouldn’t be complete without arguably the most famous and one of the greatest Jockeys of all time, Frankie Dettori. He has won the Flat Jockeys Championship 3 times, the first of which was in 1994 in which he rode 233 winners, the most winners in a season for over 100 years. In 1990 Dettori became the first teenager since Lester Piggott to ride 100 winners in one season. He now holds an incredible record of riding more than 500 Group race winners and one of his most notable achievements was on 28 September 1996 when he achieved the feat of winning all seven races on a single day at Ascot Racecourse. He has been the jockey for some of the most famous Horses in racing history including the likes of Golden Horn, Ouija Board, Galileo Gold and many more! In 2000 on 29th December he received an honorary MBE.
Worth a mention
Josephine Gordon was Champion Apprentice this year and she has ridden the 8th most winners (49) in 2017 already.
Royal Ascot is looking like it should be incredible once again this year, especially as the weather is looking to be sunny and mid 20s. For those of you lucky enough to be attending I hope you have a great week and a couple of winners! Go back to Racingbreaks.com