Numbers game: How do second-tier Flat jockeys make it pay?

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RACING reporter of the year Graham Dench asks second tier Flat riders what it takes to make a good living from the sport

EYEBROWS were raised recently when newly crowned Flat champion jockey Silvestre de Sousa outlined what he felt was required to make a good living as a rider.

In an interview De Sousa said that at the start of 2015, when he had returned to the freelance ranks, he was looking to ride 100 winners in order to make a good living and added: “At one time you probably needed 50 winners to break even, but you need a lot more than that now. The prize-money is so low.”

Of course, one man’s good living is not necessarily the same as another’s. De Sousa, who finished 2015 among an elite dozen riders who rode 100 or more domestic winners, was clearly not thinking of former champions Frankie Dettori, Ryan Moore and Jamie Spencer, who for different reasons rode far fewer than 100 winners at home last year, or indeed Andrea Atzeni, who had 76 winners yet picked up prize-money of £3,387,000. However, his message seemed clear enough.

Nobody should doubt that life is hard for many professionals. In a survey including only those who had 100 or more rides a year, the Professional Jockeys Association calculated 18 months ago that earnings averaged £25,110, and bear in mind that ‘average’ took into account top riders earning many times that amount but none of those who operate at the bottom of the food chain.

A similar recent survey by the Daily Mail suggested the average football player in the Championship might earn around £9,000 a week.

But while many are genuinely struggling, can it really be that tough for what we might call the second-tier riders on the Flat, those who might expect to ride 50 winners but fall short of the 100-winner mark? Many would readily acknowledge they have it better than most, especially those riding over jumps, where injuries and abandonments are so common.

Most in the second tier prefer to point to the number of rides, rather than winners, as the key indicator of earnings, since prize-money at the lower levels is moderate. But rides, they say, are harder to come by than ever, with competition for them so fierce.

Paul Mulrennan: had 750 rides during 2015 with £942,000

PICTURE: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

‘A minimum of 500 rides’

Paul Mulrennan’s 2015 winners earned a career-best £942,000, but while he fell only three short of a second century he says the number of rides – in his case around 750 – is key.

“We’re always concerned about the number of rides we get, because they’re our wages at the end of the day and we’ve got costs like diesel to consider,” he said.

“Everyone is different, as you have some jockeys attached to a stable picking up a wage to go with what they earn on the track, but I’d say getting a minimum of 500 rides a season gives a rider the opportunity to make a good living.

“There’s definitely more competition, as you’ve got so many good jockeys around. It’s become quite common to see more riders going to a meeting for one ride because they have to.”

Robert Havlin is among those to enjoy the support of a good stable. He said: “I don’t have a millionaire’s lifestyle, but I make an all right living.

“I’m very lucky to have been riding for John Gosden all these years. If you haven’t got a job you’re on the back foot straight away, as there are very few spares and there are a hell of a lot more guys riding now than there were.”

He added: “I have a partner and two kids, and I’m 42 now. I’ve been doing this for 26 years, but I’m happy ticking away. Mind you, I was on the road pretty much every day last year, and if I wasn’t riding here I spent nearly every Sunday riding abroad, so I hardly had a day off.

“At this time of the year it’s all about the riding fee, because prize-money is so low that by the time you’ve paid your agent and your valet and so on you would barely notice the winning percentage.”

It is a common misconception that jockeys receive ten per cent of the prize-money their mounts earn.

Martin Dwyer: has been troubled with injury in recent seasons

PICTURE: Getty Images

Widening gap

Derby-winning rider Martin Dwyer, who has been troubled by injuries in recent seasons and has only recently returned to action, said: “We don’t get ten per cent. I think it’s around 6.8 per cent of win money and more like three per cent of place money, so even second place in a Group 1 isn’t much of an earner. The prize-money is top-heavy too. Any injection of prize-money always seems to go to the top races.”

Like Mulrennan and Havlin, Dwyer believes getting rides is tougher than ever. He said: “The sport is becoming more and more elitist and it’s the same handful of people who are getting more and more, so the gap is widening.

“There are more jockeys around nowadays and so fewer opportunities. I’m definitely going to the races for fewer rides now than was the case five or ten years ago and it’s the same for a lot of the lads.”

Many riders are currently plying their trade in Dubai, as well as in Hong Kong, and have done so on a regular basis for years. Tadhg O’Shea, who rode just 49 winners in his best season based in Britain, underlined the riches on offer in Dubai when three winners at the first meeting of this year’s Dubai Carnival between them picked up just short of £200,000.

However, the windows at that level are relatively small and many prefer to maintain contacts at home. Hong Kong races just two days a week and in the case of Meydan, where the carnival races are held, it is essentially once a week for not much more than two months, although lesser meetings are also being staged at other tracks in the region.

Switching codes

DOUGIE COSTELLO can offer a different perspective to most, as he was formerly a jump jockey riding 50 or so winners a year. Although he rode only 12 Flat winners in 2015, when mixing codes for much of the year, he has now put his jumps career behind him.

When recently announcing a link with Karl Burke, he said: “Freelancing over jumps I was driving 90,000 miles a year and spending three or four nights a week at home. One of the reasons I started riding on the Flat was to give myself more options after I reached 30. It’s gone particularly well and it makes sense to go down the Flat road.”

Dougie Costello: switched from riding over jumps to Flat

PICTURE: Getty Images

Costello added: “After reading Silvestre’s comments, my wife said to me if you look at it the cost of everything has gone up – diesel, food, cars, tyres, servicing etc – whereas the prize-money has come down.

“In August I went to ride in France and I couldn’t believe the levels of prize-money. Olivier Peslier told me the top 30 jockeys in France earned more than £1 million in prize-money last year.

“To be champion jockey you need a driver, a PA and an agent who works their backside off. To have your staff and pay them a wage you need to be riding 100-plus winners. During November and December I had a driver and I probably wasn’t making money doing it, but it meant I could sleep in the car when I was doing 2,000 miles a week.”

Costello has had a boost from sponsorship (“it’s a big deal. They pay for your gear and help out with your vehicle and it can save a lot of money”) as have many riders. It might vary from as little as £500 to as much as £50,000 in a very few cases but it is a big help, as Robert Winston acknowledged, when painting a positive picture from the lower reaches of the second tier.

Good support system

Winston, who might have been champion jockey in 2005 but for breaking his jaw, rode only 35 winners last year, when again sidelined for a significant period.

Winston earns “a nice bit” from sponsors Northumbria Leisure and said: “Prize-money is never going to alter dramatically while we have the bookmaking system we have, but it has got better in the last couple of seasons, especially on the all-weather, where they’ve introduced the championships and a lot of ordinary meetings have a showcase feature, with decent money.

“Jockeys get very well looked after too. We have a really good pension scheme, we get the support of the Injured Jockeys Fund when we are injured, and we also have the Professional Riders Insurance Scheme. We’ve got Oaksey House and now the new Jack Berry House in the north, and we have help and support from physios on the racecourse too.

“Eddie Stobart’s backing has been very generous too, with prize-money for the championships and an insurance scheme for those career-ending injuries.

“Going for one ride in a low-grade race doesn’t pay, but you have to look at the bigger picture. If you can rack up 500 rides, or maybe 700 rides, it’s pretty much a living on its own.”

Do not miss Friday’s Racing Post: David Jennings looks
at the struggles facing Irish freelance jockeys over jumps

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