Luckiest Jockeys at the Cheltenham Festival
“Luck” at Cheltenham often comes down to skill and opportunity – top jockeys riding the best horses in the toughest races. By sheer number of wins, Ruby Walsh stands out as the Festival’s most successful (and arguably luckiest) jockey of recent times.
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The Luckiest Jockey Overall
Walsh rode a record 59 winners at Cheltenham, an achievement that includes being the meeting’s leading jockey on 11 occasions. This phenomenal haul was aided by Walsh’s knack for rising to the big occasion – remarkably, he rode at least one winner at every Festival from 2002 through 2019. In two separate years he rode seven winners across the four days (a joint record), underscoring an impressive strike rate in those peak years.
Table: Top “Luckiest” Cheltenham Festival Jockeys (2005–2024)
| Jockey | Festival Wins | Notable Stats / Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Ruby Walsh | 59 | All-time record holder; 11× Leading Jockey at Festival. ~20% win rate (won at least one race every year 2002–2019). |
| Barry Geraghty | 43 | Second-most all-time wins; 2× Leading Jockey (2003 & 2012) with 5 wins. Rode a winner at 15 consecutive Festivals (2002–2016). |
| Paul Townend | 34 | Top active jockey; ~20% win rate; Leading Jockey in 2020, 2022, 2023 (incl. 6 wins in 2024 at 40% strike rate). |
| AP McCoy | 31 | 20-time UK Champion Jockey; 2× Leading Jockey at Festival (1997, 1998). Cheltenham tally of 31 wins, including 2 Gold Cups and multiple Champion Hurdles. |
| Rachael Blackmore | 16 | Most successful female jockey; Leading Jockey in 2021 (6 wins). Achieved 16 wins from ~102 rides (˜15.7% strike rate) since 2019, including first-ever female Gold Cup win (2022). |
Honorable mentions: Davy Russell rode 25 Festival winners, notably recording at least one victory in 13 consecutive Festivals from 2006 to 2018. Amateur rider Jamie “J.J.” Codd boasts one of the highest strike rates – 8 wins from just 34 rides (~23.5%) – underscoring how selective opportunities can yield great success.
Other Cheltenham Jockey Standouts
Other elite jockeys have also amassed outstanding Cheltenham records. Barry Geraghty notched up 43 Festival wins (second only to Walsh), and he remarkably rode a winner at every single Festival from 2002 to 2016 – a testament to his consistency.
Among current riders, Walsh’s compatriot Paul Townend has emerged as a new Festival star with 34 wins to date. Townend’s win tally comes with a superb approximately 20% win strike rate in his rides, and he has earned the Leading Jockey title three times in recent years (2020, 2022, 2023).
Future and Past Cheltenham Jockey Stars
The rising star of jump racing, Rachael Blackmore, has quickly accumulated 16 Cheltenham wins since her first in 2019 – including a record six wins in 2021 when she was crowned top jockey. Blackmore’s meteoric success (around a 15–16% win rate of her rides) highlights how “luck” favors talented jockeys who maximize limited opportunities.
Legendary 20-time champion AP McCoy also amassed 31 Festival wins in his career (third-highest ever), though his Cheltenham strike rate was lower than the likes of Walsh or Townend, reflecting how even great riders can find the Festival challenging.
Unluckiest Jockeys at the Cheltenham Festival
The flip side of the Festival’s fierce competition is a group of accomplished jockeys who have been dealt a tough hand at Cheltenham in recent years. These are riders with plenty of rides in big races – yet very few wins to show for it, often having to settle for placings.
The Unluckiest Jockey Overall
Topping the “unluckiest” list is Paddy Brennan, a Grade 1-winning jockey who famously won the 2010 Gold Cup, but who has not won a single race at the Festival in the past decade. Brennan has gone 0-for-53 in his rides at Cheltenham Festival since 2015, an astonishing winless streak for such a high-profile rider (despite several near-misses in that span).
Table: “Unluckiest” Cheltenham Festival Jockeys (High Rides, Few Wins)
| Jockey | Festival Rides | Festival Wins | Win Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Burke | 57 | 0 | 0% |
| Paddy Brennan | 53 | 0 | 0% |
| Sean Bowen | 40 | 0 | 0% |
| Daryl Jacob | 92 | 1 | 1.1% |
| Charlie Deutsch | 49 | 1 | 2.0% |
| Adrian Heskin | 45 | 1 | 2.2% |
Several other riders remain winless at the Festival despite numerous attempts, including Barry O’Neill (0 for 26) and Will Biddick (0 for 24), primarily in amateur rider races. Even elite professionals can have fallow runs – e.g. Aidan Coleman went 0–40 in Festival handicap races from 2015–2022 – highlighting how elusive Cheltenham glory can be.
Other Unluckiest Jockeys Standouts
Similarly, Jonathan Burke has had 57 rides with no winners at the Festival, and Sean Bowen is winless from 40 Festival rides – painful statistics that underscore how hard it is to get into the winner’s enclosure at Cheltenham.
Even some top jockeys eventually broke their duck after long waits: for example, Daryl Jacob did win a Festival race, but just 1 victory from 92 rides signals that he’s had more than his fair share of bad luck at Prestbury Park (Jacob frequently hit the crossbar with multiple placed finishes over the years).
Other veterans like Adrian Heskin (1 win from 45 rides) and Charlie Deutsch (1 win from 49 rides) have similarly low strike rates at the Festival, despite being successful elsewhere on the circuit. In many cases these jockeys have often been in contention – finishing second or third on numerous occasions – only to find one too good on the day.
Cheltenham Festival is where only the very best thrive, but even champion jockeys can struggle. While legends like Ruby Walsh and Barry Geraghty have dominated the Festival, others have faced years of frustration. The data highlights the fine margins between success and failure, proving that at Cheltenham, talent alone isn’t always enough—sometimes, fortune plays its part.