Jack Kennedy: "It’s been a nerve-racking few weeks, but it’s great to get it over the line"
Jack Kennedy Champion Jockey 2023/24
At the end of a season in which he had to settle for second behind Paul Townend in many of the top races, Jack Kennedy came out in front in the one race he has long been driven to win: the jockeys’ championship.
In the Champion Hurdle and the Gold Cup at Cheltenham, and again in the Grand National at Aintree, Kennedy played second fiddle to Townend, but at close of play on Saturday evening in Punchestown, when the curtain came down on another National Hunt season, the Dingle, Co Kerry, native claimed the title with a tally of 123 winners.
Not alone is that figure two more than Townend managed this season, but more than the former champion produced in any of his six title-winning seasons. And it bodes well for future battles between the country’s leading riders.
Kennedy, now 25, has long been a prodigious talent but the brilliance of Townend, backed by Willie Mullins, has been a major stumbling block in his title quest, as has the litany of injuries he has suffered.
There has been leg fracture after leg fracture, collarbone injury after collarbone injury, screws inserted, broken, and fixed, and plates inserted, rejected, inserted once more, and all done in the name of the sport he loves.
This season, however, he – and we – have been able to enjoy him having a relatively free run from that perspective and it resulted in him taking an early lead in the jockeys’ title race and, on this occasion, being able to sustain it all the way to the winning line.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling to have won the championship,” said Kennedy, who had to sit out the final day while Townend still harboured just a glimmer of hope that he could catch him.
“Paul got close enough in recent weeks to give me loads of sleepless nights, but I’m delighted to have hung on,” said Kennedy.
“I’ve had a great 12 months, leading the championship for much of the way and riding over 100 winners in a season for the first time in my career.
“It’s brilliant. It hasn’t sunk in yet but it has a nice ring to it. It’s been a nerve-racking few weeks, but it’s great to get it over the line. I’m very lucky. Gordon has had plenty of faith in me and put me on good horses.” Of the injuries which have robbed him of so many opportunities, he was customarily nonchalant, willing to accept all the setbacks along the way to reaching his goal.
“You sign up for them when you decide to become a jockey. They are part of it. If you’d have said to me eight or nine years ago about the injuries and that I’d be standing here as champion jockey, I’d have taken your hand and all.”
“A massive thanks to Gordon and all the owners, all the staff in Gordon’s and all the trainers that have supported me this year, my agent Kevin O’Ryan and everyone behind me. Without my family, this wouldn’t be possible.” Gordon Elliott, who provided his stable jockey with 112 of his 123 winners in Ireland this term, was every bit as proud as Kennedy that this championship was finally under wraps.
“I’m thrilled for Jack - we have been thinking about this day since he was 16,” said Elliott. “Unfortunately, he got a couple of hold-ups in previous years. Last year, he was clear but got hurt, but we knew this year he was in good nick. He’s a lot stronger.
“I’m so happy. He deserves this more than anyone, with all the injuries that he’s had. He bounces back and that’s his attitude. Hopefully we’ll get another 10 or 15 years out of him.”
Elliott’s personal quest to be champion trainer must wait at least another year, with perennial champ Willie Mullins getting stronger all the time and breaking records for sport. However, his 207 winners for the season also helped Danny Gilligan become champion conditional jockey as he provided 26 of the rider’s 39 for the season.
