Ted Durcan


Thomas Edward Durcan is a retired, two-time British Classic-winning Irish jockey. He was champion jockey in the United Arab Emirates on seven occasions and rode over 1,000 winners in Great Britain in career lasting from 1992 to 2017.

Career

Durcan was born in County Mayo, Ireland, and went to boarding school in Naas. The school held him back from a riding career for sometime, as it prevented him riding out for stables. Naas had its own racecourse, and several others within easy reach, so although it was against rules for boys to visit the course, his headmaster tolerated it. After leaving, Durcan joined trainer Jim Bolger as apprentice at the same time as Tony McCoy
His first Group 1 victory came in the 2003 Haydock Sprint Cup on Somnus. In the middle of the decade, his biggest victories came in Europe. In France, he won the Group 1 Prix Morny on Silca's Sister for Mick Channon, while in Italy he won the 2005 Premio Lydia Tesio on Dubai Surprise and 2006 Premio Roma on Cherry Mix. Both were trained by Saeed bin Suroor.
He won the 2007 Oaks for Henry Cecil on Light Shift, and 2009 proved his best season domestically for Group 1 wins, winning the St Leger on Mastery and the Sun Chariot Stakes on Sahpresa. This run of success meant that each year between 2007 and 2009 he won over £1 million in prize money, and 2007 proved his most prolific winning year in Britain, when he won 95.
Although only a Group 3 race, the biggest prize money pot of his career was the Dubai Duty Free he won in March 2000 on Rhythm Band for bin Suroor.
In recent years, the number of wins have been fewer, with between 40 and 60 wins per year. He finished second in the 2012 Epsom Derby, riding Main Sequence, 5 lengths behind winner Camelot. His 2017 season was curtailed by an ankle injury sustained in a fall at Leicester. The fall took place after the winning line, after finishing fifth in a five furlong novice stakes race on Plundered.
On 18 February 2018, Durcan announced his retirement from race-riding at the age of 44.

Statistics by year

YearWinsRunsStrike RateTotal Earnings
1997 15 199 8 £91,993
1999 0 3 0 —
2000 23 236 10 £176,338
2001 54 490 11 £448,827
2002 58 545 11 £804,087
2003 29 374 8 £548,178
2004 40 589 7 £734,528
2005 60 707 8 £968,788
2006 71 732 10 £928,667
2007 95 793 12 £1,364,525
2008 75 665 11 £1,372,653
2009 94 617 15 £1,329,458
2010 88 567 16 £741,534
2011 58 465 12 £590,240
2012 56 503 11 £710,865
2013 46 432 11 £324,391
2014 50 353 14 £383,833
2015 51 382 13 £602,194
2016 45 354 13 £560,046
2017 13 161 8 £153,645

Major wins

Great Britain
France
Italy