Mel Sheridan(10)

The headline number is modest: 1 winner from 34 rides this season, which works out at roughly 1 in every 34 races. That's a 3% win rate, and in isolation it sounds thin. But context matters here. New jockeys spend their first year learning the job at the sharpest possible end — riding horses that are often difficult, in races that are deeply competitive, for yards that are still deciding whether to trust them. Getting 34 rides in under a year is itself a sign that trainers are willing to put Sheridan to work.

The most meaningful relationship so far has been with trainer Denis Gerard Hogan, who has handed Sheridan 32 of those 34 rides. That kind of loyalty from a trainer is not nothing. Hogan clearly sees something worth developing, and when a young rider gets that sort of consistent support from one yard, it usually means they're learning fast and earning trust even when the winners aren't coming. The partnership has produced 1 win from those 32 rides together — the numbers are still building, but the foundation is there.

The one detail that genuinely stands out is how Sheridan performs on wet, muddy ground: 1 win from just 3 races in those conditions, which is a 33% win rate — roughly 1 in every 3. For comparison, the season-wide figure is 1 in 34. That gap is too large to ignore. Whether it reflects a particular skill in the saddle on heavy ground