Gavin Sheehan

Rider of more than 500 winners, Gavin Sheehan, made the decision to move to the UK at a very young age, and it’s been a great move for his riding career. He’s won a Grade One Championship race at the Cheltenham Festival, been a conditional champion jockey and gone over £5 million in prize money earnt.

He would begin race riding aged just 14 and rode his first winner in Ireland in 2011 at Thurles. A year after this, aged 18, Sheehan made the decision to leave his home country and pursue his riding career in the UK. It was a big move at the time for such a young rider, but it paid almost instant dividends for him.

After finding his feet in the UK and putting together a book of connections, Sheehan would win the 2013/14 Conditional Jockeys Championship with 50 winners. A year later, he took things to another level again, with 73 winners.

He would make his debut in the Grand National in 2015, riding Tranquil Sea for Warren Greatrex. The pair ran really well in the race and would finish a respectable 7^th position.

 

Full Results

Cheltenham Festival Grade One Success in 2015

Alongside making his Aintree Grand National debut in 2015, Sheehan would also land his first Cheltenham Festival win, which was a big one too. He would ride Cole Harden to success in the Stayers Hurdle, winning the race by three and a quarter lengths.

It was a success that would help Sheehan move further into the limelight, pushing him forward at the end of a very good season, which would end with a Grand National ride too.

Landing a Cheltenham Festival winner is high on the list for all jockeys, so doing it is special, made even more so for Sheehan because it was a Grade One Championship contest.