Joe Leavy

His most important professional relationship is with trainer Richard Hannon, and the numbers tell you why it has lasted. From 170 rides together, Leavy has won 18 races — an 11% win rate, which means the partnership clicks about once in every nine outings. For a young jockey, having a high-volume yard like Hannon's in your corner is invaluable. It means regular rides, regular experience, and regular opportunities to build trust with one of the sport's most active operations.

There are two areas where Leavy genuinely stands out. The first is wet and muddy ground — the sort of conditions that see some jockeys go quiet and others come alive. Leavy falls firmly into the second camp, winning 4 of his 22 races on heavy or waterlogged ground. That's an 18% win rate, nearly double his overall average, and it suggests he has a real feel for riding horses that need a different kind of handling when the ground gets testing. The second is Ffos Las, the Welsh track that punters sometimes overlook. Leavy has won 5 times from just 20 rides there — a 25% win rate — which is the kind of course record that suggests something more than coincidence.

The one note of caution is that his win rate has slipped from 13% last season to 10% this year. That dip is worth watching. It could simply reflect a heavier workload — more rides inevitably means more losing ones — or it could point to a slightly more competitive environment as his profile has risen. Either way, at 151 career winners and still only four years in, Joe Leavy has the foundations of something genuinely promising. The challenge now is to arrest that slide and push back towards the numbers he was posting a year ago.