NOTHING bar serious injury was going to prevent Silvestre de Sousa from regaining the Stobart Flat Jockeys’ title from Jim Crowley and he did it in style, ending with 201 winners and a handy advantage of 56 over Luke Morris.

It was another magnificent season for Aidan O’Brien, who was champion trainer in Britain and won all bar one of the five British classics, the exception being Enable’s victory in the Oaks (and it was similar in Ireland). The title is meant to be decided over the calendar year but O’Brien was some £3m ahead of Enable’s trainer John Gosden. David Egan took the champion apprentice title by one winner from Kieran Shoemark.

Godolphin retained their champion owner title with earnings of over £5.2m from the Coolmore syndicate of Derrick Smith, John Magnier and Michael Tabor. That does not tell the whole story as the Coolmore syndicates are treated as strictly separate entities with minor variations in make-up of personnel.