Champion jockey Bowen criticises 'stupid' calendar
· Yahoo Sports
Welsh jockey Sean Bowen has been crowned Britain's leading jumps rider for the second year in a row - but has called for changes to racing's "stupid" calendar.
Bowen, who officially retained his crown after Sunday's racing at Sandown, says officials should allow for more meaningful breaks for jockeys.
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The 28-year-old has dominated the 2025-26 season, finishing on 241 winners, with second-placed Harry Skelton on 127 and Sean's younger brother, James, finishing with 105 in third place.
But he urged authorities to revisit the schedule in the future, to ensure jockeys can have time off earlier than this year's break.
"The racing calendar is fairly stupid, if I'm being honest," said Bowen.
"I'll have two days off [after Sandown's jump finale] and then I'm off to Punchestown. There's only two days put together twice all summer until our August break."
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The Pembrokeshire-born jockey has ridden in more than 1,000 races this season, almost 500 more than second placed Harry Skelton.
"I think the calendar as a whole is not right, it doesn't really work, and two days put together twice all summer is crazy, really," he added.
"You have a day on, day off, day on, day off. It'd be very, very easy to put four or five days together, but they don't really think of that."
There will be a 19-day summer jumping break from 27 July to 14 August.
A British Horse Racing Authority spokesperson said: "We acknowledge the difficulties associated with optimising the fixture list during the summer and have continued to work to strike the appropriate balance, while maintaining the most competitive racing as possible throughout the period."
Targeting McCoy's record
Despite the criticism of the calendar, Bowen is already relishing the prospect of defending his crown next year.
"I can't wait to get back to zero and start all over again, to be honest," Bowen said.
"And we'll obviously try and do what we did this season, if not a little bit more."
Bowen's haul means AP McCoy is the only jockey to have ridden more winners than him in a British jumps season.
That came in the 2001-02 campaign when the 20-time champion jockey recorded an astonishing 289 winners.
Bowen called that feat "incredible" but would not rule out trying to better it.
"I think we counted 290-odd days in a season - a winner every day - so I'll have to get a scoot on at the start," said Bowen.
"But I don't think it's something that's impossible to do. It'll obviously take a lot of hard work, but if it's something that I can do, I'll definitely be trying."
'The quality is something we need'
Bowen's mount Haiti Couleurs was considered a contender but pulled up in the 2026 Cheltenham Gold Cup [Getty Images]Bowen will also target trying to improve his record at some of racing's biggest events.
Despite a season of remarkable numbers and a Welsh Grand National success on Haiti Couleurs, Bowen has not ridden a Grade One winner, nor did he break his duck at the Cheltenham Festival.
"I always set out to be champion jockey but the quality wants to be with it and Cheltenham is the place we all want to win," he said.
"As far as stats go, I probably had a good Cheltenham this year in that I had a 25-1 second, a 50-1 shot finish third and a 25-1chance in that place too, but getting the good rides isn't easy.
"The quality is something we need but I have no doubt it's going to happen soon, hopefully it will be next season."