Adam Kirby confirms race-riding retirement

Derby-winning jockey Adam Kirby has confirmed his retirement from race-riding after a highly-successful career spanning nearly 20 years in the saddle - but has admitted that he has still not made peace with his decision.

Speaking on the latest episode of Racing TV's This Racing Life, which will air for the first time on Wednesday evening, Kirby said: "It wasn't going too good the last year and I was struggling with a lot of things, so I just decided to pull the pin and go out quietly.

"I didn't have a good horse for the year ahead and I couldn't do the weight on a lot of horses - and I was struggling physically to do the weight at the best of times. Mentally it got to me and enough was enough, unfortunately."

Despite the difficulties Kirby expressed his regret at not being able to carry on, describing the situation as "sad" and simply replying "no" when asked whether he had made peace with his decision.

He added: "I wouldn't say I was good at it, but I was far from the worst jockey and it just wasn't meant to be any more.

"The weight allowance - which was a massive help to me - stopped and then the saunas stopped and then I just started to find it far too hard."

Kirby said "there would be a good chance" he would still be riding if he had access to racecourse saunas and knew that he would not return to the saddle "more or less as soon as I stopped if I'm being honest."

Kirby's final ride was on the July Course at Newmarket in August 2023, nearly 20 years after his first ride - a winning one - aboard Broughton Knows for Gay Kelleway at Lingfield on 1 October 2004.

One of the tallest jockeys in the weighing room, the 36-year-old standing at 5’11 and able to commit to a minimum riding weight of 9st has defied the odds in a notable career which has yielded four all-weather champion rider titles, eight Group One triumphs, nine successive years with well over 100 winners and a total of 1927 victories in Britain.

The highlight of Kirby’s time in the saddle arrived right towards the end with Adayar – the horse that the rider remarkably broke in as a yearling – landing the 2020 Derby as the 33-1 outsider thanks to an expert ride from the lowest draw and a daring late run up the rail to provide a fairy tale conclusion to a sensational big-race build-up in which Kirby turned down the ride after committing to more fancied contender John Leeper, only to be sensationally jocked off that horse by connections shortly afterwards.

Classic glory ultimately bookended a career that lasted a lot longer than Kirby initially expected, with the jockey believing that he would only be able to ride in races for a few years as he was already getting heavy after just turning 16. That was when he rode his first winner – and on his first ride no less – when scoring aboard 14-1 chance Broughton Knows for Gay Kelleway at Lingfield on October 1 2004 while more early success followed in a bright start, including in the valuable John Smith’s Cup for Walter Swinburn.

Kirby’s most enduring association was his partnership with Clive Cox, which the jockey picked up after riding the Portland winner Out After Dark – just his second ride for the trainer - in September 2005. When collecting their prizes in the Doncaster winner’s enclosure, Cox asked if Kirby would be his apprentice. 

The pair teamed up on the track 2,603 times and for 398 winners over 17 years, and most notably for their clutch of Group One sprinters initially headed by Lethal Force and then followed by Profitable, Harry Angel and Golden Horde.

Kirby guided Profitable to victory in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2016, coming just hours after the birth of his first child Charlie. The jockey won the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes aboard My Dream Boat the following day, again for Cox.