Leading jump jockey retires
Top British jump jockey Peter Niven bows out of race-riding
Peter Niven, only the sixth British jump jockey to ride 1,000 winners, bowed out of race-riding at his home course, Perth, today (Thursday 27 September ).
His final ride was on Flying High, who finished sixth in the Isle of Skye Handicap Chase.
Niven said when he came in after his last ride: “I am not happy. I am not sad. I am not anything at the moment. I still enjoy the riding but you reach a point when you are not getting the rides any more and you don’t want to slog round on no hopers.
“I had to retire at some time and I thought this was as good a moment as any.”
Thirty-seven-year-old Niven is Scotland’s winning-most jockey with 1,002 successes in his saddlebag.
Retirement from the saddle simply means a change of direction within the sport of horseracing. He is to start training in a couple of month’s time on his 30-acre farm near Malton in North Yorkshire where he has built 20 boxes.
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Looking forward to training, Niven added: “I’ll miss the craic in the weighing room but all good things come to an end. A string of 30 horse to train would be nice but I’ll startquietly and then hope to expand.”
Niven, who has spent most of his career attached to the highly successful stable ofMary Reveley at Saltburn in Cleveland, rode his first winner in 1984 and passed themagical 1,000 on Colourful Life at Wetherby in May.
He is among an elite band of jump jockeys – Richard Dunwoody, Peter Scudamore,Tony McCoy, John Francome and Stan Mellor – who have partnered more than 1,000winners.
Among the many talented horses partnered by Niven have been Cab On Target, Carbisdale, Marello and Dalkey Sound. His biggest win came on Monsieur Le Cure inthe 1994 Sun Alliance Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
