Rossa Ryan
| Rossa Ryan | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Jockey |
| Born | July 2000 Tuam, County Galway |
| Major racing wins | |
| July Cup (2023) Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (2024) | |
| Racing awards | |
| British All-Weather Champion Jockey (2023-24) | |
| Significant horses | |
| Go Bears Go Shaquille Bluestocking | |
Rossa Ryan (born July 2000) is a Group 1 winning Irish jockey who competes in flat racing and is based in Britain. He was the British All-Weather Champion Jockey of the 2023-24 season.
Background
Ryan grew up in Ballinderry, near Tuam in County Galway, where his father David Ryan has a National Hunt training yard. He was a champion rider on the pony racing circuit in Ireland, riding 150 winners, before taking out an apprentice licence. He rode his first winner under rules on 9 December 2016 on Solar Heat at Dundalk. In January 2017 he moved to England to be an apprentice at the yard of Richard Hannon.[1]
Career
Ryan finished second to Jason Watson in the 2018 British apprentice jockeys' championship.[2] In August 2019 he achieved his first Group race success, winning the Group 2 Celebration Mile at Goodwood on Duke of Hazzard, trained by Paul Cole.[3] In June 2020 he rode his first Royal Ascot winner on Highland Chief, trained by Paul and Oliver Cole, in the Golden Gates Handicap.[4] The following month he accepted the offer of a retainer from owner Kia Joorabchian, who had horses in training with Hannon.[2] Over the next two years he achieved five Group race victories for Joorabchian before they parted company in August 2022.[3][5]
Ryan rode more than a century of winners for the first time in 2021, in spite of having to take time off for a broken collar bone and surgery to remove his appendix.[2] Two winners at Royal Ascot in June 2023 included Valiant Force, a 150/1 outsider in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes, owned by Ryan's former employer Joorabchian.[4] He claimed his first Group 1 victory in the 2023 July Cup at Newmarket on Shaquille, trained by Julie Camacho. "That was the run of my life," he said after the race.[6] He ended the season 3rd in the Jockeys' Championship with 104 winners at an 18% strike rate. Over the winter 2023-24, he won the British All-Weather Jockeys Championship with 85 victories, ahead of nearest challenger Billy Loughnane on 59.[7]
Major wins
- July Cup - (1) - Shaquille (2023)
Ireland
- Pretty Polly Stakes - (1) - Bluestocking (2024)
- Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - (1) - Bluestocking (2024)
- Prix Vermeille - (1) - Bluestocking (2024)
United States
- Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint - (1) - Starlust (2024)
References
- ^ "Rossa Ryan". Horse Racing Ireland. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
- ^ a b c "Rossa Ryan". Racehorse Owners Association. 1 July 2023.
- ^ a b "Rossa Ryan". Racing Post. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
- ^ a b "'To come away with two winners was something else' - Rossa Ryan toasts Royal Ascot success in buoyant year". Racing Post. 26 June 2023.
- ^ "Amo Racing confusion as Rossa Ryan announces Joorabchian split on ITV". Racing Post. 19 August 2022.
- ^ "July Cup: Shaquille stars as Rossa Ryan claims first Group 1 win at Newmarket". BBC Sport. 15 July 2023.
- ^ "Final-day drama doesn't stop Mick Appleby as trainer is crowned all-weather champion for eighth time". Racing Post. 30 March 2024.