With British Champions Day at Ascot drawing the curtain on the thrilling 2023 flat racing season, we saw the crowning of the Champion Jockey at the Berkshire course on October 21.
William Buick was presented with the trophy for the second year in a row. That was not much of a shock to the racing odds, as the first-choice Godolphin rider was the favourite before the start of the season.
It wasn’t even a close contest in the end, with Buick picking up nearly 30 wins more than his nearest rival. That said, let’s look at the final standings.
- William Buick – 135 wins
Buick won the title with over 150 wins last year, and while he couldn’t quite reach those numbers again this season, 135 victories were still enough to see him retain the title.
The 35-year-old achieved the feat in 616 rides, giving him an impressive strike rate of 22% across the course of the season.
Buick ended the year with £2,125,989 in winning prize money and £3,795,018 in total prize money.
- Oisin Murphy – 106 wins
With three-time Champion Jockey Oisin Murphy returning from his suspension, which resulted in him missing the entirety of last season, many thought this year’s race for the title was going to be incredibly tight.
However, while the Irishman did manage to claim second, his 106 wins saw him fall well short of Buick.
Murphy did rack up more than his rival in terms of prize money though, with £2,292,766 in winning funds and £4,437,655 in total.
- Rossa Ryan – 104 wins
It has been a fantastic year for Rossa Ryan, as he broke the 100 barrier in just 566 runs to claim third in the Jockeys’ Championship standings.
Ryan ended the season with a strike rate of 18%, with £1,583,194 in winning prize money and a total purse of £2,643,703.
After losing his retention with Amo Racing at the backend of the 2022 season, it’s a credit to the 23-year-old that he’s bounced back in this fashion and appeared so many times in today’s racing results throughout the campaign.
- Tom Marquand – 102 wins
Tom Marquand might have endured a difficult end to the season, as he started to appear on the today’s racing results page remarkably less, but it was still a memorable season for the 25-year-old.
He ended the campaign with 102 wins, £3,431,948 in winning prize money, and a total of £3,999,246.
Marquand also gave King Charles the first Royal Ascot victory of his reign, landing the King George V Stakes on Desert Hero.
- Hollie Doyle – 89 wins
Someway back in fifth place was Hollie Doyle, who finished with 13 winners less than her husband Marquand with 89 wins.
The 27-year-old picked up her 89 victories in 611 rides, taking home £1,384,253 in winning prize money and a total of £2,268,185.
Doyle did enjoy a few major successes this season, winning Group 1s with Bradsell and Nashwa, and the Group 2 Doncaster Cup with Trueshan.
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Ben Curtis (82), Joe Fanning (70), James Doyle (67), Daniel Tudhope (65) and Jason Hart (63) make up the rest of the top 10.
