Paul Hanagan on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Paul Hanagan (born 8 September 1980 in
Warrington
Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...
, Cheshire) is a leading British flat horse racing jockey. Hanagan has twice been crowned
champion jockey on the flat in Britain, riding 165 winners in 2011 to defend his title, having won his first title with 191 winners in 2010.
Childhood and early career
A graduate of the
British Racing School, Hanagan sat on a horse for the first time aged 14, having previously harboured ambitions of playing
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
professionally, only to be told he was too small and light. His introduction to horse racing came through his father, Geoff, who had hoped to be a jockey and, having failed to make the grade in
Newmarket, later rode out on weekends for local
Warrington
Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...
-based
trainer Terry Caldwell. In a
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
interview in 2003, Hanagan recalls the moment he realised he wanted to be a jockey:
"My dad used to ride out at Terry Caldwell's yard and I followed him down one weekend…that was how it all started. Straight away I thought this is something totally different…I thought: 'This is what I want to do'. I was still only about 11, but it was kind of like a bug."
Hanagan went on to help out at Caldwell's yard in Warrington, Cheshire, riding out for the first time aged 14 and continuing his work experience there until leaving school to start a 9-week course at the British Racing School in 1997.
Hanagan's first job in racing came with the
Norton Norton may refer to:
Places
Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada
*Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan
*Norton Parish, New Brunswick
**Norton, New Brunswick, a ...
-based trainer
Malcolm Jefferson
Joseph Malcolm Jefferson (1 December 1946 – 2 February 2018) was a British horse trainer who specialized in training horses competing in National Hunt racing.
Jefferson was born in Penrith and worked as travelling head lad to Gordon W. Richar ...
, who despite being better known as a trainer of
National Hunt
In horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Republic of Ireland, National Hunt racing requires horses to jump fences and ditches. National Hunt racing in the UK is informally known as "jumps" and is divided into two major distinct branches: ...
horses, gave Hanagan his first racecourse ride on Stone Beck at
Haydock Park
Haydock Park Racecourse is a racecourse in Merseyside, North West England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, the racecourse is set in an area of parkland bounded by the towns of Haydock to the west, Ashton-in-Makerfield ...
on 4 September 1998, finishing 4th.
A year later and on the recommendation from Jefferson that he should join a flat yard, Hanagan joined the growing yard of
Malton-based handler
Richard Fahey
Richard Fahey is a racehorse trainer, based in Malton, North Yorkshire. He has saddled over 60 Group race and Listed winners in the UK, Ireland, France and Canada. Group 1 winners include Perfect Power in the 2022 Commonwealth Cup and 2021 P ...
as an apprentice jockey.
Champion apprentice
Four years into a burgeoning career that had seen Hanagan register scores of 6, 23, and 29 in 1999, 2000 and 2001 respectively, Hanagan became
British flat racing Champion Apprentice
The flat racing Champion Jockey and Champion Apprentice titles are awarded annually to the jockey(s) and apprentice(s) respectively that have ridden the most winners (both turf and all-weather) in Great Britain during a set period or championship ...
in 2002, recording an impressive tally of 81 winners, the second-highest total for a champion apprentice in the post-war era behind Lee Newman, the 2000 champion with 87 winners.
In an interview immediately after winning the apprentice championship, Hanagan was quick to praise his boss Richard Fahey:
"The title was my aim at the start of the year…I’m very grateful for all the help and support I’ve received from everyone, especially from Richard Fahey. Without him, I wouldn’t be where I am today."
The 2002 season also saw Hanagan record the biggest win of his career at the time on Vintage Premium in the John Smith's Cup at
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, leading trainer Richard Fahey to comment "If this boy is not champion jockey one day I will give up the game."
Maiden century
In 2004, Hanagan recorded his maiden century of winners, which had been one of his career ambitions when setting out as a young apprentice.
His wins that year included victory in the historic
Northumberland Plate
The Northumberland Plate is a flat handicap horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Newcastle over a distance of 2 miles and 56 yards (3,270 metres), and i ...
at
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
on Mirjan, which came as a massive boost to Hanagan, who days earlier had incurred a 28-day ban at the
Jockey Club
The Jockey Club is the largest commercial horse racing organisation in the United Kingdom. It owns 15 of Britain's famous racecourses, including Aintree, Cheltenham, Epsom Downs and both the Rowley Mile and July Course in Newmarket, amo ...
for repeatedly not riding to his draw in races.
2004 represented another milestone for Hanagan, as he broke through the £1 million barrier for the first time.
Champion jockey
Though his main patron
Richard Fahey
Richard Fahey is a racehorse trainer, based in Malton, North Yorkshire. He has saddled over 60 Group race and Listed winners in the UK, Ireland, France and Canada. Group 1 winners include Perfect Power in the 2022 Commonwealth Cup and 2021 P ...
had predicted big things for Paul Hanagan following his champion apprentice title in 2002, the challenge of becoming champion jockey for a northern-based jockey was a significant one, with just two other northern-based riders picking up the title in over a century (
Elijah Wheatley
Elijah "Whippet" Wheatley (c. 1885–1951), nicknamed because of his small stature, was a British flat racing jockey who won the 1905 Jockeys' Championship.
Career
Apprentice
Wheatley was born in Ilkeston, Derbyshire around 1885. From t ...
in 1905 and
Kevin Darley
Kevin Darley (born 5 August 1960, in Penn, Wolverhampton) is a retired jockey, and a co-president of the Jockeys' Association of Great Britain. He was British flat racing Champion Apprentice in 1978 with 70 wins and Champion Jockey in 2000 wi ...
in 2000). However, benefiting from the increasing strength of the Fahey stable, Hanagan started the 2010 campaign with four winners on the opening day and was never headed in the race to the title, finishing with 191 winners from over 1,100 rides.
In an interview with the ''
Daily Telegraph
Daily or The Daily may refer to:
Journalism
* Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks
* ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times''
* ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
'' shortly after being crowned champion jockey on 6 November 2010, Hanagan, who had been cheered on his return to the weighing room by both his colleagues and members of the public, said: "I’m gobsmacked to be honest. I owe the boss
ichard Faheyso much, I've been with him for 14 years and I owe him a lot. It sounds great being champion jockey, I think it will take a while to sink in."
Hanagan's Championship season was enhanced by the top-class two-year-old Wootton Bassett, who finished the season unbeaten in five starts, the last four of those under Hanagan. These victories included major sales races at York and Doncaster, but most importantly a win in the Group 1
Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère
The Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère, formerly the Grand Critérium, is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to two-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 1, ...
at
Longchamp, providing Hanagan with the first top-level success of his career. Though Wootton Bassett was unable to add to those successes at three and was retired to stud at the end of the 2011 campaign, he had played an important part in Hanagan's career.
2011
A year after defeating
Richard Hughes in the 2010 flat jockeys championship, Hanagan was successful in his defence of the title, beating the Brazilian jockey
Silvestre De Sousa
Silvestre de Sousa (born 31 December 1980 in São Francisco do Maranhão, Brazil) is a Brazilian flat racing jockey based in Britain. He was champion jockey of Britain in 2015, with 132 winners, and again in 2017 and 2018.
Childhood and early ...
in a title race that once again went down to the very last day of the season. Hanagan finished the season with 165 winners, 4 clear of De Sousa, and described the feeling of retaining the title as "a big relief". However, after winning two titles in a row, Hanagan hinted in a
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
interview that he would not be challenging for the title in 2012, claiming "I've got to take a step back. I can't keep going on like this or I won't last long."
Hanagan became the first northern-based jockey ever to win the flat championship more than once,
and having initially suggested he would not go all out for a third title in a row in 2012, he suggested in late November 2011 that, while he wanted to focus on riding a better quality of horse, he may try to retain the championship, saying "If I can recharge the batteries and have a good rest then I might think 'well I might give it a good go... I say
won't go for it againevery time but they ask you the question straight after you get off the horse – it's the worst possible time to ask."
2012 onwards
His hopes of a third title did not materialise, and he finished fifth in the jockeys' championships of both 2012 and 2013, dropping out of the top 5 completely in 2014.
[
] Hanagan suffered fractures to his vertebrae in a fall at
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
in February 2020 but returned to riding later in the year and rode his 2000th winner in Britain at the same course in November 2020.
Major wins
Great Britain
*
British Champions Sprint Stakes
The British Champions Sprint Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it is ...
– (1) – ''
Muhaarar
Muhaarar (foaled 25 February 2012) is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. As a two-year-old he showed very good form, winning the Gimcrack Stakes and finishing third in both the July Stakes and the Middle Park Stakes. He began his three-year-old c ...
(2015)''
*
Eclipse Stakes
The Eclipse Stakes is a Group races, Group 1 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Sandown P ...
– (1) – ''
Mukhadram
Mukhadram (foaled 6 April 2009) is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. Unraced as a two-year-old, he showed promise when winning two minor races as a three-year-old in 2012. In the following year he emerged as a top-class performer with a front-run ...
(2014)''
*
July Cup
The July Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run on the July Course at Newmarket over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres ...
– (2) – ''
Mayson (2011), Muhaarar (2015)''
*
– (1) – ''
Taghrooda
Taghrooda (foaled 27 January 2011) is an Irish bred British trained Thoroughbred racehorse. In 2014 she won the classic Oaks Stakes and went on to win Britain's premier weight-for-age race, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. She subse ...
(2014)''
*
Oaks Stakes
The Oaks Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 6 yards (2 ...
– (1) – ''Taghrooda (2014)''
France
*
Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère
The Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère, formerly the Grand Critérium, is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to two-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 1, ...
– (1) – ''Wootton Bassett (2010)''
*
Prix Maurice de Gheest
The Prix Maurice de Gheest is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Deauville over a distance of 1,300 metres (about 6½ furlongs), and it is sched ...
– (1) – ''Muhaarar (2015)''
UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
*
Dubai Golden Shaheen
The Dubai Golden Shaheen is a Group 1 flat horse race in the United Arab Emirates for three-year-old and above thoroughbreds run over a distance of 1,200 metres (approximately 6 furlongs) on the dirt course at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai in late M ...
– (1) ''Muarrab (2016)''
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanagan, Paul
Living people
1980 births
English jockeys
Lester Award winners
British Champion flat jockeys
British Champion apprentice jockeys