This season has been a touch harder going. He has ridden 273 races and won 21 of them, which works out at roughly 1 in every 13 — down from around 1 in every 10 last year. That dip from 10% to 8% is worth keeping an eye on, but it is not a cliff edge. Plenty of jockeys plateau in their fourth season as they take on harder races and stronger competition. The question is whether this is a blip or a trend.
Where Costello genuinely stands out is Newmarket. Seven winners from 29 rides at one of Britain's most prestigious tracks is a number that deserves attention — that is nearly 1 in every 4 races there. Newmarket is a long, straight, unforgiving course that strips away luck and exposes whether a jockey really knows how to time a race. Winning there at that rate is not an accident. It suggests Costello either suits the course temperamentally, or that the horses he rides there are particularly well-matched — probably a combination of both.
His most regular partnership is with trainer Steph Hollinshead, though the numbers there are more modest: 3 wins from 55 rides, which is around 1 in every 18. That is below his overall average, which might sound like a problem, but volume matters in this sport. Fifty-five rides from one yard is a significant vote of trust, and even a modest win rate adds up over time. These are the steady, bread-and-butter relationships that keep a jockey's career moving forward between the bigger moments.
At 136 career winners and still only four years in, Costello is solidly established without yet being a household name. The Newmarket record hints at a jockey who could punch upward when given the right opportunities. Whether those opportunities come more regularly this season will tell us a lot about which direction his career is heading.
| Course | Races | Wins | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newmarket | 29 | 7 | 24.1% |
| Southwell | 27 | 2 | 7.4% |
| chelmsford | 23 | 4 | 17.4% |
| Wolverhampton | 20 | 0 | 0% |
| Leicester | 18 | 0 | 0% |
| Kempton Park | 16 | 2 | 12.5% |
| Beverley | 16 | 0 | 0% |
| Newcastle | 14 | 2 | 14.3% |
| Doncaster | 14 | 1 | 7.1% |
| Nottingham | 10 | 1 | 10% |
| Catterick Bridge | 10 | 0 | 0% |
| Lingfield Park | 8 | 1 | 12.5% |
| Ascot | 8 | 0 | 0% |
| Sandown Park | 7 | 0 | 0% |
| Great Yarmouth | 6 | 1 | 16.7% |
| Carlisle | 6 | 0 | 0% |
| Pontefract | 6 | 0 | 0% |
| Chester | 6 | 0 | 0% |
| Bath | 5 | 0 | 0% |
| Thirsk | 5 | 0 | 0% |
| Haydock Park | 5 | 0 | 0% |
| Redcar | 4 | 0 | 0% |
| Windsor | 4 | 0 | 0% |
| Brighton | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| York | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Ffos Las | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Newbury | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Ripon | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Salisbury | 1 | 0 | 0% |