Champion apprentice Billy Loughnane reflects on "crazy season"

Teenage wonder Billy Loughnane will cap an incredible year by being crowned 2023 Champion Apprentice Jockey on QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday.

The 17-year-old only had his first ride on October 24th last year but, just a year on, has zoomed to incredible heights.

Loughnane enters the final days of the 2023 Apprentices’ Championship with 59* winners and a clear lead over Benoit De La Sayette, the reigning champ, plus jockeys such as Harry Davies, Conor Planas, Taylor Fisher and Sean Kirrane.

The Worcester-based teenager has enjoyed 59 winners in the Apprentice Jockeys’ Championship which began on 6th May and is operating with a strike rate of 13%.

He will emulate one of his idols, Tom Marquand, the Champion Apprentice in 2015, and his ambitions include one day becoming Champion Jockey. Frankie Dettori (1989), Seb Sanders (1995), Paul Hanagan (2002), Ryan Moore (2003), William Buick (2008) and Oisin Murphy (2014) have been Champion Apprentices who have gone on to achieve the double.

Loughnane who will be crowned 2023 Champion Apprentice Jockey at Ascot on Saturday will stand alongside William Buick who will retain the Champion Jockey title which he won for the first time last year.

Looking ahead to Saturday Loughnane said: “I am really looking forward to Saturday after such a brilliant year and I will be happy when I am lifting the trophy but I haven’t thought about it too much because it’s (the Championship) not over till it’s over. If you look back at the list of people who have been Champion Apprentice, there are some great names, so I will be lucky to get my name up alongside them.”

Speaking on his achievements and where it all began Loughnane said: “The first time I sat on a racehorse I was probably about two years old, I used to sit on them on the way back from the gallops while someone held on to them. But the first time I cantered a racehorse I was about ten.” 

“I have always been very competitive with everything I have done; I have always wanted to be the best. I had the bug of pony racing when I first started and the first pony race I won gave me the feeling for a winner and since then I have wanted more and more winners.” 

The 17-year-old continued: “When I was eight or nine my idol would have been AP McCoy but when he retired and I got more into the flat scene, I was always focused on Tom (Marquand).

“It’s been a crazy season, really. We’ve had a good year and I’ve had a lot of people supporting me, it’s been great.”

Loughnane, son of trainer Mark Loughnane, rode out his claim early last month at Kempton, a landmark that apprentices reach after accumulating 95 wins, and he achieved his first century** of winners soon after. He would have got there even quicker had he not spent three weeks on the sidelines with a thumb injury in July/August. His achievements in such a short space of time have rarely been matched.

The 2023 Apprentices’ Championship began on May 6 and Loughnane, who passed his driving test shortly beforehand, would have been frustrated to take 19 days (and 35 rides) to get off the mark. But once he got the ball rolling, with a double at Wolverhampton on May 25, he never looked back.

Throughout the year, records have fallen, landmarks have been achieved. His apprentice’s weight claim was gone in a fastest-ever 11 months. And at Newmarket in May, he became the youngest jockey since Lester Piggott to ride in a British Classic when he rode Sweet Harmony in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket.

In June the teenager rattled up 15 winners from 101 rides, with highlights being a treble at Newcastle and doubles at Goodwood, Chepstow and Bath.

The following month, he chalked up another 16 winners from only 77 rides, with further doubles at Brighton and Bath plus a first success at Ascot. His thumb injury, ruling him out between July 22 and August 12, halted his progress a little, but he had added another 17 victories by the end of September, with two more doubles at Bath plus another at Sandown.

Loughnane has added another eight winners this month to climb up to thirteenth in the overall Jockeys’ Championship. Another double at Wolverhampton means that on ten occasions he has had more than one winner at a meeting.

His father provided him with plenty of early firepower but, not surprisingly, the youngster has not been short of other suitors. George Boughey has been a good source of winners for him, while Loughnane is a perfect three from three when riding for champion trainer Charlie Appleby.

Speaking on his son’s achievements Loughnane (Mark) said: “It has happened more quickly than any of us could have expected. We were going to stop at 15, but two days later he’d ridden 20. Then 25, then 30. It seemed to happen overnight. But he just wants to ride winners. He lives, eats and breathes racing. This is all he has ever wanted to do.”

*Stats correct as of 14.30, 17th October 2023

** Billy Loughnane has ridden 104 winners since 1st January 2023. The 2023 Apprentice Jockeys’ Championship includes winners between 6th May – 21st October.

-He achieved his 100th winner just nine days after riding out his claim on the George Boughey-trained Lambert at Kempton on 8th September. His 100th win was at Brighton on Evasive Power, trained by Robyn Brisland.  

-Recently achieved 100 wins this season, when riding a treble at Wolverhampton aboard Sexy Rexy, Pysanka and Salvuccio.  

-Was part of Racing League 2023 for the Irish team, who won the overall team competition with over 800 points achieved.   

-He rode his first race as an apprentice jockey in November 2022, with his first winner coming later that month. 

-Becoming a jockey has always been his dream, and he has long idolised fellow Flat jockey Tom Marquand, who was champion apprentice in 2015.