This year, Sanderson has ridden 93 races and come away with just 5 winners — that is roughly 1 in every 19 rides, a win rate of 5%. To put that in perspective, last year he was winning closer to 1 in every 12 or 13, so the drop-off is real and noticeable. Whether that reflects the quality of horses he has been put on, a dip in form, or simply the brutal unpredictability of racing is hard to say — but it is the kind of slump that every jockey goes through at some point in their career, and the ones who come out the other side are usually the ones who keep their head down and keep riding.
His most regular partnership is with trainer S Woods, where he has ridden 37 races and picked up 2 wins together — the same 5% return he is averaging across the board. It is a working relationship rather than a particularly fruitful one on paper, though 37 rides together suggests a level of trust and consistency that should not be underestimated. Trainers do not keep putting the same jockey up if they have lost faith entirely.
At 4 years in, Sanderson is still in the phase of his career where every season matters. The next 12 months will be telling.
| Course | Races | Wins | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lingfield Park | 14 | 0 | 0% |
| Wolverhampton | 12 | 1 | 8.3% |
| Kempton Park | 12 | 0 | 0% |
| Southwell | 9 | 0 | 0% |
| Leicester | 8 | 0 | 0% |
| Newcastle | 5 | 2 | 40% |
| Catterick Bridge | 5 | 0 | 0% |
| chelmsford | 4 | 0 | 0% |
| Pontefract | 4 | 0 | 0% |
| Newmarket | 4 | 0 | 0% |
| Nottingham | 3 | 0 | 0% |
| Windsor | 3 | 0 | 0% |
| Great Yarmouth | 2 | 1 | 50% |
| Redcar | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| Ffos Las | 1 | 1 | 100% |
| Chepstow | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Bath | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Thirsk | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Doncaster | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Beverley | 1 | 0 | 0% |