‘I can’t wait till next season to do it all again’: dual champion jockey Sean Bowen on targeting AP McCoy’s records and overcoming a childhood aversion to horses
To be mentioned in the same breath as legendary 20-time champion Sir Anthony “AP” McCoy is a huge honour for any jockey. But justifying every comparison bestowed upon him is the current king of the weighing room, Sean Bowen.
On Saturday (25 April) the 28-year-old jump jockey is officially crowned champion for the second season running. Not since AP McCoy’s incredible record-breaking reign have we seen the kind of stats that the young Welshman is racking up.
Immediately after earning his first jockeys’ championship in 2025, he set off in hot pursuit of the next title and enjoyed his quickest ever start to a season, eventually racking up nearly 250 winners at a superb 24% strike rate. To put that into perspective, he’s ridden nearly twice as many winners as any of his weighing room colleagues.
“It’s only AP to beat now numbers-wise and that will take some doing, but the numbers have been incredible. I’m very lucky,” says Sean.
“It’s taken an immense amount of work – I surpassed 1,000 rides for the season at Perth [on Thursday, 23 April] – so the miles on the road are a lot. But now I’ve reached my targets for this season, I really can’t wait till next season to start it all over again.”
Not only does this unassuming Welshman have the same relentless McCoy-esque work ethic, his mindset is strikingly similar, with an all-consuming drive to succeed and a hawk-like focus on the ambitious goals he sets himself.
“Winning my first championship was amazing,” he says. “But to be champion jockey, chasing numbers is what you’ve got to do. You have to set your own targets and hopefully they come.
“It’s not just about the big Saturdays either – every day is important because the day-to-day meetings are where you rack up the winners. I know AP used to chase numbers and he got to a record 289 winners one season, which is a crazy amount really, but hopefully that’s something I can achieve.
“All I dreamt of as a kid was to be champion jockey and I suppose now I’m in this position, I don’t want to give it up too easily!”
Sean Bowen: a class apart
So what sets Sean Bowen apart from his current crop of weighing room colleagues – a hugely talented bunch in their own right that includes previous champions Brian Hughes, Harry Skelton and Harry Cobden?
Sean struggles to pinpoint an answer himself but evidently his skills in the saddle are more refined than ever and he’s excelled since joining forces with talented trainer Olly Murphy four years ago. He has become a skilled tactician, also displaying enviable balance and strength with his ultra-short riding style. But most impressive of all is his ability to infiltrate the mind of every horse he sits on, instilling in each the confidence to shine.
“Something seems to be going right anyway!” says Sean. “Every season for the past three or four years, I’ve felt my riding has got better and better. Obviously riding for very good people helps and Olly’s yard is going from strength to strength.
“So many variables go into each race though, so you have to be constantly aware of what’s going on around you, are they going too fast, too slow, is your horse too keen or a bit lazy.”
Sean would receive an A* for his homework, too, and it’s clear why Olly feels no need to issue his number one rider with any riding instructions.
“For all the horses I’ll be riding the following day, I’ll sit down the evening before or in the car on the way home and watch back all their races on the iPad to get a gist of what they’re like,” he reveals, adding that the flipside of his daily quest for winners is, “I don’t have time to ride out in the mornings anymore, so I have to get to know the horses pretty quickly as soon as I get on them. Trainers have to make allowances for that and I need to be adaptable – that’s something I’ve got used to. I’m in a very fortunate position to be riding every day though.
“But I love that side of racing; the tactics and looking at all the different data is so interesting.”
In the genes: why Sean was a late-starter in the saddle
Sean was born into a family steeped in racing history. His father is former Pembrokeshire trainer Peter Bowen and mother Karen was a champion point-to-point jockey. Their oldest son Mickey was a successful point-to-point trainer and has now taken over the training license, while the youngest of their three sons, James, has made an equally big impact since following his brother Sean into the weighing room, finishing this season with just over 100 winners.
Despite his early surroundings and genetic make-up, Sean initially showed little interest in the sport.
“I actually wasn’t a massive fan of horses or ponies to start with,” he smiles. “Every time I came home from school the racing channel would be on TV – it used to drive me mad!”
But the spark ignited around the age of nine.
“Nobody ever taught me, we just got legged up on the ponies and off we went – my cousins would come down with their ponies and we would all race them up the gallops as fast as we could and I learnt that way. It was a survival instinct!”
Racing ponies followed and all three Bowen brothers learnt the ropes in that sphere, with great success.
“Once you’ve had one ride in pony racing, it gets you hooked and I absolutely loved it,” says Sean. “I don’t suppose there was ever a plan B after that, I was always going to be a professional jockey. I actually only did one season of point-to-point riding, at the age of 16, but I’d have needed to do a lot longer if it hadn’t been for pony racing all those years. You learn so much about race riding and the whole experience of being a jockey.”
When “school got in the way of riding out racehorses” at the age of 14, he completed his education from home every afternoon.
“It worked well for all of us and Dad was happy because he had a free member of staff!” he recalls.
Despite only a brief stint as a point-to-point jockey, Sean was crowned leading novice in 2014, riding a large crop of winners for David Brace, who Sean says “supported me massively” and his brother Mickey, who was enjoying a purple patch in his training career.
“It was brilliant – you think pony racing is great and then you race over jumps and it’s unbelievable,” says Sean, who’d actually had his first winner under Rules as an amateur for trainer Bernard Llewellyn in 2013 before the point-to-point winners started flooding in.
All the while of course, Sean has also had the support of his parents.
“I suppose the minute I started race riding, Dad wanted me,” reveals Sean, who was inspired by Peter’s regular jockeys Tom O’Brien and Jamie Moore growing up, as well as the likes of Barry Geraghty, AP McCoy and Ruby Walsh.
Like many future champions, he enjoyed a stint with the 13-time champion trainer Paul Nicholls while riding as a conditional, where he made a huge impact, partnering, amongst others, a novice Cyrname and earning his first ride in the Grand National aged just 17, en route to being crowned champion conditional at the end of his first full season racing under rules.
Sean’s milestone first Grade One winner came on Harry Fry’s If The Cap Fits at Aintree on Grand National Day, in 2019.
“That was a huge day – it was a photo finish, too, so I didn’t know if I’d won or not for what felt like an age!” says Sean. “But in some ways it was a bit of a relief, too, because I’d ridden a few favourites in Grade Ones that, for one reason or another, hadn’t won, so it meant a lot and I realised it could happen.”
When asked for his proudest moment on the track, those close family ties are once again to the fore.
“Winning the Topham at Aintree on Mac Tottie for my Dad,” he says, relishing the memories of that emotional day in 2022. “My brother Mickey rode him out every day, James had won the Sefton on him that season and everyone saw James running up the track to congratulate us that day. It was the best day of my life so far – you can’t beat riding a winner for your family.
“We’re very lucky that all three of us brothers have been very successful at a young age and it’s brilliant to share the weighing room with your brother,” says Sean. “Good or bad, we talk to each other most days about racing – James is someone that understands what’s going on – but we all have a great relationship.”
James was sitting second to Sean in the jockeys’ standings for much of this season.
“Luckily I’m far enough ahead of my brother that he can’t take the mick too much! But it’s brilliant to have him there,” says Sean.
One advantage Sean has over his younger brother is on the weighing scales.
“James gets very annoyed because I can eat what I like and still do 10 stone, whereas he’d probably be a stone heavier if he ate meals like I do, I’m definitely one of the lucky ones!” he says.
“But for us all to be doing so well is fantastic really. Mickey is young and keen and the yard has really grown. I’ve ridden plenty of winners for him already and hopefully it continues.”
The highs and lows of horseracing
As all-conquering jumps trainer Willie Mullins said to underling Dan Skelton after edging him out of another trainers’ championship last season, “You have to lose one to win one” and, like Dan, Sean endured a character-building journey to being crowned champion jockey, a decade after he triumphed as the leading conditional.
“I finished second to Brian Hughes in 2023, then I was a long way clear when I injured my knee two seasons back,” says Sean of the heavy fall at Aintree on Boxing Day that scuppered his chances of closing in on his best friend Harry Cobden in that year’s title race. “Missing out on the championship by seven winners was unbelievably frustrating.
“But every young child riding their pony dreams of becoming champion jockey and AP McCoy and Ruby Walsh were the ones I looked up to. So finally to be able to fulfil that dream was amazing.”
Sean has built a resilience to the inevitable highs and lows of this rough-and-tumble sport.
“I’m pretty level-headed and I’m able to sleep in the car well, which helps!” he says, brushing off any concerns I suggest about burnout, stress and other potential side-effects of such a relentless existence. “I’ve wanted to be in this position since I was a kid so while it’s happening you can’t stop it.”
2025 was a huge year for Sean away from the racecourse, as he married Harriet in the summer – making use of the sport’s annual two-week break in August, so he didn’t miss out on riding any potential winners.
“It was an amazing day. Harriet did all the planning because I was never home, but she did a very good job of it,” says Sean. “So it was a good fun summer: plenty of winners and a wedding to top it off.
“Racing is a busy life and I’m not home very often but these are the sacrifices you make.”
Sean Bowen, dual Grand National winner
One surprising omission from Sean’s tally of winners is a Grade One success and, while brother James scored a brace of winners at this year’s Cheltenham Festival, that too remains a gap on Sean’s CV.
However, the Rebecca Curtis-trained Haiti Couleurs gave Sean two career-defining moments in the saddle, starting at Fairyhouse last April.
“Haiti’s win in the Irish Grand National was amazing,” comments Sean of the all-Welsh conquest of Ireland’s flagship race, before following up in the Welsh Grand National in December.
Before celebrating his second jockeys’ title, Sean assures me there is one milestone belonging to 20-time champion AP McCoy’s that he won’t be chasing.
“There are so many records of his I’d love to beat but I’m too old to be thinking of winning 21 jockeys’ championships now!” stresses Sean.
This talented young rider’s career is still unfolding, but regardless of how many records he smashes, how closely he can emulate the greatest jump jockey of all time or how long he can assert his dominance in the weighing room, this is undoubtedly an exciting era for the sport.
Sean has built a lofty platform from which to operate, but there’s no time to enjoy the view. His sights are set on one thing only – riding that next winner.
- For more exclusive interviews with top riders and trainers, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website
You may also be interested in:
Having just achieved his first century, double Cheltenham Festival winner James Bowen reveals the benefits of long-standing sibling rivalries
What did you do in your Easter holidays? Schoolboy wins at Scottish Grand National meeting riding his grandfather’s home-bred
Already a record-breaker, is Billy Loughnane the future champion Flat jockey?
‘You really connect with a horse like this’: galloping grey finds his groove to shine for Skeltons at Grand National Festival
‘I had no desire to do a marathon’: charity’s incredible work prompts AP McCoy to run London Marathon
Subscribe to Horse & Hound magazine today – and enjoy unlimited website access all year round
Jennifer is passionate at showjumping and her role as H&H’s showjumping editor has taken her around the world reporting from shows and interviewing riders, connections and those involved behind the scenes. Since joining H&H from BBC Sport in 2005, she has written on every subject across the equestrian sphere — from turnout rugs to stable management — and has interviewed gold medallists, world champions and winners galore. She also has first-hand experience of working in the equestrian industry as a riding instructor and yard manager.