The title race for the Jockeys’ Championship is really heating up this season between Billy Loughnane and Oisin Murphy.
Loughnane cruised 11 wins ahead of Murphy during a fantastically successful Glorious Goodwood last week however, Murphy hit back landing a four-timer on Sunday at Chester.
They now go head-to-head on Monday evening at Windsor where the temperatures are soaring and so is the Jockeys’ Championship.
The Flat Jockeys Championship is decided on winners throughout the flat season in both flat and all-weather races between the Guineas Festival on Saturday May 2 2026 all the way through to the British Champions Day at Ascot on Saturday October 17.
Billy and Oisin on fire
Murphy is the reigning champion and looking to close the 7-race gap to Loughnane.
Loughnane, often affectionally called ‘Billy the Kid’, is just 20-years-old already competing to become champion jockey.
He showed that potential over the years as a teenager though, winning the flat racing Champion Apprentice title in 2023 and scooping the British All-Weather Champion Jockey title in the 2024/25 season.
Both riders are in tremendous form this season, with strike rates of 20%.
Meaning for every 100 rides they have they land 20 winners.
With Murphy in second he sits 14 wins ahead of Rossa Ryan in third, while looking to defend his title.
Murphy has won the title five times in the last seven seasons, landing the last two in a row after William Buick won in back-to-back seasons in 2022 and 2023.
Loughnane has been given the trust to ride in the big Group 1 races too this year.
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With Bow Echo one of the stand out winners so far, the talented three-year-old has only even been ridden by Billy, and together they’ve landed three Group 1’s this season.
The biggest of them all came last week at Glorious Goodwood as they battled once again with Gstaad but came out on top to win the £851k Sussex Stakes.
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Jockey’s Championship standings
| Jockey | Min. Weight | Wins | Rides | Strike Rate | Level Stake | Win Prize | Total Prize |
| Billy Loughnane | 8-9 | 84 | 425 | 20% | 73.33 | £2,752,604 | 3,624,806 |
| Oisin Murphy | 8-8 | 77 | 388 | 20% | 101.66 | £1,766,045 | 3,103,793 |
| Rossa Ryan | 8-10 | 63 | 340 | 19% | 51.68 | £568,053 | 1,097,284 |
| Cieren Fallon | 8-8 | 50 | 262 | 19% | 13.16 | £570,052 | 977,057 |
| Jason Hart | 8-8 | 43 | 336 | 13% | 85.55 | £257,517 | 611,752 |
| Marco Ghiani | 8-4 | 41 | 226 | 18% | +55.28 | £310,855 | 534,001 |
| Saffie Osborne | 8-2 | 39 | 262 | 15% | +37.68 | £784,752 | 1,275,432 |
Tonight’s rides
- 6.30: Billy Loughnane – Lovely Dark Angel 5/4
Oisin Murphy – Proper Naughty 7/2 - 7.00: Billy Loughnane – Night Shining 10/11
- 7.30: Oisin Murphy – Havana Halo 7/2
- 8.30: Billy Loughnane – Chilly Breeze 2/1
Oisin Murphy – Flag Carrier 5/1
Loughnane has the upper hand this evening if the favourites come to the fore.
But there’s still plenty of racing left in the season in the lead up to Champions Day at Ascot in October.
Murphy will be looking forward to more potential rides on Constitution Hill.
And the pair will be busy through the Ebor Festival in mid-August, the St Leger Festival at Doncaster in September along with numerous meetings almost every day until the finale.
