Welsh rider Sean Bowen is off to a flying start to the 2024/25 Jump Jockeys’ Championship this season. The man from Pembrokeshire has already ridden 97 winners in the campaign, and he tops the early standings in the race for the title.
Bowen was runner-up last season behind his good friend Harry Cobden, but if he can stay injury-free until April, he will feel he has an excellent chance of going one place better this time around.
Strong Leader – The Big Hope This Season
One of the horses Bowen has big hopes for this season is Strong Leader. Olly Murphy’s runner prevailed in the Grade Two Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury on his seasonal reappearance. With Bowen on his back, he beat a field that included Langer Dan and Monmiral. The horse is now 8/1 in the racing odds for the Stayers’ Hurdle at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival.
Strong Leader is likely to be one of the top horses in the horse racing tips and predictions for the Stayers’ Hurdle this season. He showed his class last April when he won the Grade One Aintree Hurdle. Since that triumph at Merseyside, connections of the horse have had the Championship race in mind for the horse.
The staying hurdlers’ next appearance is set to come at Cheltenham on Trials Day in late January. That will be his final run before he lines up in the day three feature at the Festival.
Injury Hampered His Title Bid Last Season
Although Bowen is top of the standings following the opening half of the season, he will be fully aware of how quickly things can change in the title race. The Welshman was leading the way in the 2023/24 campaign, but an injury picked up in a fall on Boxing Day ruled him out of action for two months.
Image by dreamtemp from Pixabay
When he returned to the saddle following his forced absence, Bowen’s lead had evaporated, and Cobden had all the momentum going into the final two months of the season. He was also riding with a lot of pain as he rushed his rehabilitation to get back into the saddle.
Bowen is one of the busiest jockeys in the UK, and he is not afraid to put in the miles in his first to win a first title. He has already had over 500 rides this season, the most by any rider in the Jump racing.
Skelton Set to Be Biggest Challenger to Bowen
The nearest rival to Bowen in the Jockeys’ Championship this season is Harry Skelton. The 2020/21 winner has also made a strong start to his campaign, largely thanks to his brother Dan, who leads the Jump Trainers’ Championship.
Skelton has an excellent chance of winning his first Cheltenham Gold Cup this season with Grey Dawning. The second-season chaser won the Turners Novices’ Chase at the 2024 Cheltenham Festival. He then finished second behind Royale Pagaille on his return to action in the Grade One Lancashire Chase. The Skelton brothers will have the Blue Riband event at the Cheltenham Festival in mind for the horse this season.
The 2024/25 Jockeys’ Championship concludes on the 26th of April at Sandown. If Bowen does lift the trophy, he will be the first Welshman to do so since Bob Davies in 1972.
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