Keith Donoghue

The headline numbers this season tell a straightforward story: 37 winners from 414 rides, which works out at roughly 1 in every 11 races. That is a 9% win rate, down from 15% last year, and that dip is worth noting — it is the kind of softening that often reflects a more competitive schedule, tougher fields, or simply the natural ebb and flow of a season. What matters is that he is still winning regularly, and the last two weeks suggest things may be turning back in his favour: 2 winners from just 14 rides, a 14% clip that is well ahead of his season average. Small sample, but a promising sign.

His partnership with trainer Gavin Cromwell is the defining professional relationship of his career so far. Of his 301 rides for Cromwell, 26 have ended in victory — again that 1-in-11 ratio — and the consistency of that number across both the full season and the Cromwell partnership suggests it reflects something real about how the combination works. When a jockey and trainer click over hundreds of rides, it stops being coincidence and starts being chemistry.

Four wins at the top level of racing, across Huntingdon, Cheltenham and Exeter, tell you he has not just been picking up easy wins in ordinary company. Cheltenham in particular is the most scrutinised track in jump racing, a place where reputations are made and many more are quietly set aside. Getting a winner there is meaningful. Getting winners at three different Class 1 venues suggests adaptability rather than a one-track specialist.

Cork is worth a mention too: 3 winners from just 12 rides there gives him a 25% win rate at the track — wins 1 in every 4 races — which is well over double his seasonal average. Whether that is down to track knowledge, horse selection, or something about the way he rides that particular course, it is the kind of stat that marks out a jockey quietly mastering their craft.