Jockey titles go down to the wire

FROM mid-summer through to the final weeks of the season, the championship battle between Donnacha O’Brien and Colin Keane provided an ongoing and thoroughly engaging narrative that lasted to the end.

Ultimately, O’Brien carried the day with a tally of 111 wins, which was eight more than Keane, and this gripping title battle meant that this was the first time in an Irish flat season that two jockeys have ridden in excess of 100 winners. In the five years that spanned the time of his first winner to his last ride of 2019, O’Brien achieved an extraordinary amount.

He was afforded some great opportunities during this time but he was also good enough to take each and every one of them and whether it was Dundalk, Ballinrobe, Ascot or Newmarket, his talents shone through.

A second 2000 Guineas success at Newmarket on Magna Grecia, a Champion Stakes on Magical, and Kew Gardens’ tremendously brave defeat of Stradivarius were among the highlights of the jockey’s season.

In typically understated fashion, he announced on Twitter on Sunday, November 23rd that he was to concentrate on training as of next year. This doesn’t mean that this is the end for O’Brien as he reported that he will renew his jockey’s licence and it seems far from impossible that he could return to the saddle at some point in the future.

Perhaps the most enthralling battle of all in 2020 was the one fought out for the apprentice title which concluded with honours being shared between Andy Slattery and Oisin Orr. When the latter picked up the 2017 apprentice title, he did so with 20 winners, but a herculean feat was required this time around as the aforementioned pair ended the season tied on 43 winners apiece.

In the first tie for the apprentice title since 2010, Orr came into the final day of the season at Naas needing a double to match Slattery and he did so in the most dramatic fashion. In the final race of the season, Orr struck aboard Dermot Weld’s Maria Christina to ensure that the honours were shared.