JUMPS HERO GERAGHTY TO QUIT SADDLE
BARRY GERAGHTY admitted “you can’t go on forever” as he announced his retirement from the saddle two months before his 41st birthday.
The news brings the career of one of National Hunt racing’s finest jockeys to a sudden end, and leaves Geraghty’s boss JP McManus on the lookout for a new No 1 rider.
With 43 Cheltenham Festival triumphs — only Ruby Walsh with 59 has more — and a Grand National victory aboard Monty’s Pass in 2003, Co Meath-born Geraghty is one of the winter code’s most decorated horsemen.
But recent seasons have been blighted by injury and, explaining his decision to quit Geraghty told his Sporting Index blog: “I’ve missed 18 months of the last five years, having broken both legs, both arms, my ribs, shoulder blade and a few other small fractures in between.
“The eight broken ribs and punctured lung in 2017 ruled me out of Cheltenham and then the broken arm at Fairyhouse in April only 11 days after returning from the broken ribs were both tough injuries with bad timing.
“The last injury, the leg break on the eve of the 2019 Grand National at Aintree, made me appreciate the importance of a scenario where I could go out on my own terms rather than being stretchered off.
“I’m 41 in September, and you can’t go on forever,” added Geraghty, (below) who captured Cheltenham Gold Cups aboard Kicking King (2005) and Bobs Worth (2013).
He also won four Champion Hurdles, via Punjabi (2009), Jezki (2014), Buveur D’Air (2018) and Epatante (2020).
Jessica Harrington’s star Moscow Flyer launched Geraghty’s career at the top table — the pair combined for 13 Grade 1 successes — before he joined Nicky Henderson as stable rider in 2008, succeeding Sir AP McCoy as JP McManus’s No 1 jockey seven years later.
“He was a brilliant jockey,” said McCoy. “Jockeys like Barry Geraghty don’t come around too often.”
McManus’s No 2 Mark Walsh is Paddy Power’s 1-2 for the vacant hot seat, with Aidan Coleman 11-8.