The British Flat Jockeys Championship is awarded to the jockey with the most winners during the British Championship season. Until 2015, the season ran from the opening Lincoln Meeting in April to the closing November Handicap. However, partly to create a more compelling spectacle, and partly to ease some of the pressure on the jockeys, the length of the season was shortened. The official jockeys’ championship season now begins on the opening day of the Newmarket Guineas meeting in early May and concludes on British Champions Day at Ascot in mid-October.
All wins are treated equally in the flat jockeys’ championship, meaning a rider with 101 wins in low-level handicaps would finish ahead of a rider with 100 wins including a string of Group 1 triumphs. This focus on winners differs from the Flat Trainers’ Championship, which goes to the trainer who amasses the most prize money during the season.
The list of previous champion flat jockeys is littered with legendary names, including Lester Piggott (11 championships), Pat Eddery (11 championships), and Sir Gordon Richards, who claimed the title 26 times between 1925 and 1953.
2025 - Oisin Murphy
The 2025 season saw defending champion Oisin Murphy produce a dominant performance to claim the title for the fifth time. While his total rides were down from 2024, a 23% strike rate across 620 races was more than enough to defend his crown. Opening up with 29 winners in May and 28 in June, Murphy was well clear of the opposition at the halfway stage. With one hand on the trophy, he pulled further clear with 32 wins in September. Standout wins for Murphy included Lead Artist (Lockinge Stakes), Asfoora (Nunthorpe Stakes) and Never So Brave (City Of York Stakes). The 2023 champion apprentice Billy Loughnane confirmed his status as one of the most promising young riders in the sport with a fine runner-up finish.
- 1st - Oisin Murphy - 143
- 2nd - Billy Loughnane - 109
- 3rd - Rossa Ryan - 97
2024 - Oisin Murphy
Oisin Murphy led from pillar to post in 2024 to claim his fourth title by a wide margin. Combining a 22% strike rate with huge volume – his total of 754 rides was almost double the tally of outgoing champion William Buick – made him impossible to stop. The highlight of Murphy’s year came at Royal Ascot as he picked up a Group 1 sprint double with Asfoora (King Charles III Stakes) and Khaadem (Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes). Rossa Ryan improved on his third-placed effort from 2023 in the year of his spectacular Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe win aboard Bluestocking.
- 1st - Oisin Murphy - 164
- 2nd - Rossa Ryan - 110
- 3rd - Tom Marquand - 104
2023 - William Buick
Returning from his ban in February 2023, Oisin Murphy made a spectacular start to the season with Mawj in the 1,000 Guineas. The three-time champ led the championship race at the end of June and looked primed to make a bold bid to regain his crown. However, a combination of suspensions and overseas commitments saw Murphy ride only seven winners in July. Seizing his opportunity, Buick rode 27 winners in July to move into a 14-winner lead. Having added 28 more in August, a brilliant 35-winner September allowed the defending champion to cruise home over the closing weeks. A solid return to the saddle from Murphy in second, while Rossa Ryan achieved his best finish to date in third.
- 1st - William Buick - 135
- 2nd - Oisin Murphy - 106
- 3rd - Rossa Ryan - 104
2022 - William Buick
With Oisin Murphy missing the whole of 2022 through suspension, William Buick stormed to his first championship. Operating at an impressive 26% strike rate over the course of the season, Buick pulled clear early with 30+ winner months in June and July and never looked back. Buick’s domestic Group 1 highlights came aboard Coroebus (St James’s Palace Stakes) and Lezoo (Cheveley Park Stakes). Having tied the knot in March of 2022, husband-and-wife riders Tom Marquand and Hollie Doyle finished tied for second. That runner-up from Doyle represented the best-ever finish for a female jockey.
- 1st - William Buick - 157
- 2nd - Hollie Doyle - 91
- 3rd - Tom Marquand - 91
2021 - Oisin Murphy
Oisin Murphy came out on top in a neck and neck battle with William Buick in 2021. Buick started well and held a four-winner advantage at the end of June, but Murphy bounced back with a 30-winner July to vault into a seven-race lead. Unable to shake Buick, the battle went down to the final day. Having moved three wins clear with a double at Haydock, Murphy was three ahead at the start of the Champions Day fixture. Buick closed the gap to two in the Champions Sprint but could get no closer. This high preceded one of the low points of Murphy’s career, with the rider subsequently receiving a 14-month ban for COVID- and alcohol-rule breaches.
- 1st - Oisin Murphy - 153
- 2nd - William Buick - 151
- 3rd - Tom Marquand - 117
2020 - Oisin Murphy
Due to the impact of COVID-19, the 2020 season started on 1 June and ended on 7 November at Doncaster. With 32 winners in June and 38 in August, Oisin Murphy establish an early lead, with William Buick emerging as his biggest rival. Thirteen clear at the end of October, Murphy jetted out to the Breeders’ Cup meeting, leaving Buick to attempt to steal the title in the final week of the season. Buick cut the gap, but only to eight, as Murphy won back-to-back championships. The clear highlight of the year for Murphy came in June, when Kameko handed the Irish rider a first British Classic in the 2,000 Guineas.
- 1st - Oisin Murphy - 142
- 2nd - William Buick - 134
- 3rd - Tom Marquand - 114
2019 - Oisin Murphy
Long touted as one of racing’s brightest young stars, Oisin Murphy delivered on the hype to win the title for the first time in 2019. With Silvestre De Sousa slipping to 81 wins, Daniel Tudhope emerged as the biggest challenger. Trading blows over the opening months, Murphy and Tudhope were locked together on 87 wins at the end of July. However, Murphy surged clear with 39 wins in August and put the race to bed with another 36 in September. Murphy’s biggest victories came courtesy of a couple of fillies and mares, with Veracious winning the Falmouth Stakes and Deirdre claiming the Nassau Stakes.
- 1st - Oisin Murphy - 168
- 2nd - Daniel Tudhope - 133
- 3rd - Jim Crowley - 99
2018 - Silvestre De Sousa
Another dominant performance from Silvestre De Sousa, who built on a 33-winner May to claim the title for the third time in four years. Adding at least 24 winners to his tally in every month between June and September, he never looked like being caught. Jim Crowley fell off the pace in the peak summer months, while Oisin Murphy fired in 79 winners between July and September, but was always playing catch-up after a slow start. Standout wins for De Sousa included the Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Vintage Stakes at Glorious Goodwood. Oisin Murphy’s big moment came in July when winning his first British Group 1 aboard Roaring Lion in the Coral-Eclipse.
- 1st - Silvestre De Sousa - 148
- 2nd - Oisin Murphy - 121
- 3rd - Jim Crowley - 107
2017 - Silvestre De Sousa
Silvestre De Sousa lost his job as the number one rider to Godolphin at the end of the 2014 season. Setting out as a freelance rider, he claimed a first title in 2015. Having lost out to Jim Crowley in 2016, the Brazilian set a relentless pace to reclaim his crown. Taking an early lead with 27 winners in May, tallies of 40 in June and 38 in August left his rivals chasing shadows. In a season lacking a Group 1 winner, De Sousa’s biggest payday arrived in October, when partnering Withhold to victory in the Cesarewitch Handicap. Jim Crowley slipped to second but enjoyed Group 1 wins with Ulysses (Coral-Eclipse and Juddmonte International) and Here Comes When (Sussex Stakes).
- 1st - Silvestre De Sousa - 155
- 2nd - Jim Crowley - 111
- 3rd - Ryan Moore - 104
2016 - Jim Crowley
Jim Crowley claimed his first and only title courtesy of a flying finish to the 2016 season. At 29 winners behind Silvestre De Sousa at the end of June, Crowley fired in 22 winners in July, 38 in August, and an astonishing 46 in September to move comfortably clear. De Sousa matched his championship-winning tally of 2015, but this time it wasn’t enough. With Group 1 winners harder to come by for Crowley in the days before he landed the Shadwell job, his Group 3 wins aboard Arab Spring (September Stakes) and Algometer (Legacy Cup Stakes) were the highlights. Andrea Atzeni enjoyed more success on the biggest stages, with wins in the Lockinge Stakes, Coronation Cup, and Juddmonte International.
- 1st - Jim Crowley - 148
- 2nd - Silvestre De Sousa - 132
- 3rd - Andrea Atzeni - 88