Top Five Flat Jockeys in the History of Horse Racing

by , 7 June 2025

From Fred Archer to Frankie Dettori, British horse racing has had some great champions, but who are the all-time greats? Comparing athletes from different generations is no easy task. Do you agree with our list of top-five all-time great flat jockeys?

Lester Piggott and Frankie Dettori pictured in 2007.

With almost 8,000 winners between them, Lester Piggott and Frankie Dettori (pictured in 2007) make our top-five list. ©Getty

Longevity and Influence Is a Trait Found in the Greatest

The title of British Flat Racing Champion Jockey is awarded to the rider that wins the most races during the height of the British flat racing season. The timeframe is roughly 24 weeks and covers mid-summer. It was longer in the past, and jockeys could ride at two meetings a day.

No all-time great jockey has failed to win the Champion Jockey title more than once. During their careers, they have also taken a clutch of classic races and numerous Group-1 contests. Furthermore, the ‘Top Five Flat Jockeys in the History of Horse Racing’ are notable for their career longevity.

Based on the number of winners they have partnered, notable top-flight successes, and influence within and beyond the sport of horse racing, here we have ranked the top five flat race jockeys in the history of British horse racing.

5. Pat Eddery

With 4,633 winners, Eddery sits second only to Gordon Richards in terms of British winners. His first ride came in 1967 in his native Ireland. His final ride was at the end of 2003 in the UK, where he had been Champion jockey 11 times, including in the mid-1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

During his remarkably long career, Eddery won every British Classic. He took the Oaks, Derby and 2000 Guineas three times apiece, the 1000 Guineas once and St Leger four times. His 4,000th career came aboard Silver Patriarch in the Doncaster showpiece.

Pat Eddery won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe four times during his career. His ride on Dancing Brave in the 1986 Arc earned him legendary status. Further afield, he landed the 1983 Arlington Million on Tolomeo, the 1985 Breeders’ Cup Turf on Pebbles, and won the 1986 Japan Cup on Jupiter Island.

Other notable horses Eddery rode to big-race success include Grundy, Detroit, Storm Bird, Golden Fleece, Assert, Lomond, El Gran Senor, Rainbow Quest, Trempolino, Warning, Zafonic, Quest for Fame, Toulon, Bosra Sham and Lady Carla.

Pat Eddery – riding alongside a generation of jockeys that included Joe Mercer, Willie Carson and Lester Piggott – was equally at home on a major stage as he was landing a small race on a mid-week card. He passed away in 2015, aged 63, losing a battle with alcohol.

4. Ryan Moore

One of two jockeys on our list who is still riding, Ryan Moore, was born in 1983 and rode his first winner as a 16-year-old over hurdles at Towcester. The rider switched to the flat and joined Richard Hannon’s yard which helped him to take the ‘Champion Apprentice’ title in 2003.

100-plus winners in 2004 brought him to the attention of major yards, and Moore soon struck up a relationship with Sir Michael Stoute’s powerhouse stable. The number of winning rides then snowballed.

The first of Moore’s three champion jockey titles came in 2006. Injury robbed him of a defence in 2007, but he claimed the title again in 2008 – a year when he announced his arrival on the international stage by winning the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Conduit – and 2009.

Quality and not quantity has been Moore’s mantra since 2010. This was the year he won his first Classic (on Show Fairy in the Oaks) and took the Epsom Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (on Workforce). Nevertheless, Moore has still won over 2,000 races on home soil.

An allegiance with Aidan O’Brien, forged in the early-2010’s that continues today, has produced one of the most successful partnerships in the sport’s history. Most of Moore’s subsequent major winners have been for the Irish trainer.

The record books currently show Moore has won over 200 Group 1 races, including 17 British Classics. He rode a standout nine winners at Royal Ascot 2023 and has scored 16 times at the Breeders’ Cup.

Moore is a hero in Japan, winning the Japan Cup twice. His most recent success came in 2022 when he gave Vela Azul a breathtaking ride.

3. Frankie Dettori

Dettori’s personality and panache have made the Italian-born rider the sport’s poster boy for decades. His global appeal is unmatched. But a victory lap ahead of his retirement that lasted a season but was aborted as he continued riding in the US has not endeared him to the youngest British racing fans.

The veteran has raced over five separate decades, starting in the 1980s when he became British Champion Apprentice jockey (in 1989). He was Champion Jockey in 1994 when registering 223 winners – the most since Sir Gordan Richards in 1949 – and then again in 1995 and 2004.

In 1996, Dettori achieved a remarkable feat when he rode all seven winners at the British Festival of Racing. The rider’s 25,095/1 ‘magnificent seven’ made him a household name and cost the best bookmakers in the UK an estimated £40 million.

When Sheikh Mohammed set up the Godolphin racing operation in 1994, Dettori was signed as its retained jockey. The association would last eighteen years and delivered an abundance of big-race winners.

Like all outstanding riders, Dettori has won every British Classic. His first Classic win came in the 1994 Oaks on Balanchine. On his departure from the UK, he had ridden 23 British Classic winners amongst his 3,100-plus domestic victories.

Frankie has partnered 15 Breeders’ Cup winners including five victories in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. However, his six Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe successes stand out. Amongst his 340 Group 1 and Grade 1 winners, horses such as Golden Horn, Dubai Millennium, Authorised, Lammtarra, Ouija Board, Lochson, Enable, and Stradivarius stand out.

2. Lester Piggott

During his career, Piggott won 4,493 races in the UK, taking 30 British Classics, including a record nine Derby victories. He was champion jockey 11 times with a unique style and ruthless competitiveness, making him a household name when horseracing still ranked highly among the nation’s favourite sports.

Riding his first winner at age 12 in 1948, Piggot rode in six separate decades. Famously, at the age of 55 and just ten days after returning to race riding following 366 days in prison for tax evasion, he won the 1990 Breeders’ Cup Mile on Royal Academy.

Lester Piggott rode around the world, adding another 800 winners to his domestic score. His major overseas victories include three Washington DC Internationals and three Prix de l’Arc de Triomphes. He also collected Derbys in places such as Singapore and Slovakia.

The best horses he rode include Never Say Die, Crepello, Sir Ivor, Roberto, Empery, The Minstrel, Alleged, Teenoso, Shadeed, Royal Academy, and Rodrigo de Triano.

However, most historians would rate Piggott’s 1970 St Leger success aboard Hall of Famer Nijinsky as his defining moment. It meant the partnership completed the Triple Crown, which had not been achieved since 1935 and has never been repeated.

1. Sir Gordon Richards

The only flat jockey to be knighted, Gordon Richards rode a record 4,870 winners with a strike rate of almost one in four. Taking his first ride in 1920, he won the British Championship a record 26 times before injury forced his retirement in 1954.

Richard’s 12 consecutive race wins in 1933 – including a six-race card sweep – still stands as a record. During his career, the rider won all the British Classics (14 in total). However, it took him 27 attempts to win the Derby and he only took the race once – in 1953 aboard Pinza.

Remarkably, the son of a coal miner rode 200-plus every championship season between 1946 and 1952 inclusive. At the time, cars were not wholly reliable, and the British road network was not robust. He, therefore, took trains to many meetings.

Like Piggott and Pat Eddery in subsequent years, Gordon Richards turned his hand to training after retiring from the saddle with only limited success. By the end of the 1970 season, bookmaker William Hill restarted his breeding operation and ended the famous rider’s training career by taking back the stables that Richards had been leasing.

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