Fortune calling it quits

CLASSIC-winning jockey Jimmy Fortune has announced his retirement after a 30-year career.

As well as winning the St Leger on Lucarno for John Gosden in 2007, the rider won a host of other big races, including the 2008 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Raven’s Pass and the Yorkshire Oaks on Dar Re Mi in 2009.

Fortune, 45 (below) said “It’s been a difficult decision. I love my racing, love the weighing room. It’s my life, so it’s been a difficult decision but we all have to go sometime.

“When my back went this year I was really struggling to get it right.

“I just felt when I came back I couldn’t put the workload in that I needed to, to be competitive, so in a way that set me off.”

Fortune’s final ride was at Newmarket yesterday where he bowed out on Nathra who was third in the Sun Chariot Stakes, which he won on Lady In Waiting in 1999.

Born in Wexford, Fortune was an apprentice with Jim Bolger in Ireland. He was first licensed in 1987 and moved to the UK, where his first win came at Thirsk in 1988 on Hitchinstown.