Richie McLernon

This season he has ridden 37 winners from 346 rides, winning roughly 1 in every 9 races. That is a slight dip from last year, when he was winning closer to 1 in every 7, and it is the kind of small slide that will not go unnoticed in a competitive weighing room. Whether it reflects a trickier book of rides or just the natural variance of sport is hard to say, but McLernon has the career foundations to absorb a quieter spell.

His most important partnership is with the father-and-son training team of Jonjo and A J O'Neill, for whom he has ridden 101 times and won 10 races — a win rate of around 1 in 10. That is a long-standing working relationship, and in racing, loyalty between a trainer and jockey matters. When a stable trusts you with 101 rides, it says something about how they rate you in a tight finish.

What really sets McLernon apart is what he can do when the weather turns nasty. On very wet, muddy ground — the conditions that many horses and riders find miserable — he has won 2 races from just 9 rides this season, a win rate of 22%, or nearly 1 in every 4. That is a striking figure. It suggests a jockey who reads deep, demanding ground well and keeps horses balanced when the going gets treacherous. In British jump racing, that skill matters enormously, because the winters can be brutal.

And when the biggest occasions have arrived, McLernon has shown he belongs. He has won two top-level races in his career — the kind that sit at the very peak of British jump racing — including one at Cheltenham in March 2026, the sport's most famous and pressurised stage. Winning at Cheltenham at all is something most jockeys never manage. Getting it done in a top-level race puts McLernon in select company, and no matter how the rest of a season goes, that is a marker of quality that does not fade.