James Doyle (jockey)

James Doyle
James Doyle
	James Doyle (Prix Vermeille, 2023)
Occupation	Jockey
Born	22 April 1988 (age 36); Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK
Major racing wins
	Dubai Duty Free Stakes (2012); Tattersalls Gold Cup (2013, 2014, 2015); Ascot Gold Cup (2017); Prince of Wales's Stakes (2013, 2018); Eclipse Stakes (2013); Moyglare Stud Stakes (2013); Irish 2,000 Guineas (2014); St James's Palace Stakes (2014, 2017); Sussex Stakes (2014); Champion Stakes (2014); Lockinge Stakes (2015); Falmouth Stakes (2015); Irish Oaks (2018); King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2018); Al Quoz Sprint (2018); Jebel Hatta (2018); Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (2018); King's Stand Stakes (2019); Diamond Jubilee Stakes (2019); 2000 Guineas Stakes (2022); 1000 Guineas Stakes (2022)
Significant horses
	Sea of Class, Al Kazeem, Cityscape, Kingman, Noble Mission, Rizeena, Night of Thunder, Rebel's Romance

James Doyle (born 22 April 1988 in Cambridge, England) is a flat racing jockey. He is the son of former trainer Jacqueline Doyle. Since 2014, he has been one of the retained riders to Godolphin Racing in the UK, mainly riding horses trained by Charlie Appleby, but has announced he will ride for the Emir of Qatar's Wathnan Racing from the start of 2024.^[1]

Early life

James Doyle was born on 22 April 1988 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England and is the son of former trainer Jacqueline Doyle and brother of jockey Sophie Doyle.^[2] Jacqueline trained Zanay, who won the Winter Derby in 2000.^[3] James now lives in Lambourn, Berkshire.^[2]

Riding career

Early career

James Doyle had his first ride under rules on 4 June 2004 at Goodwood on Somayda, who was trained by his mother.^[4] James Doyle rode his first winner on 1 June 2005, when he partnered the Richard Price trained gelding Farnborough to win a Class 6 Handicap run over an extended mile at Wolverhampton.^[5] During 2005, he had eight wins, four of which came on Fabrian, who was also trained by Richard Price. During 2006 he rode 73 winners, with 32 those being on Turf, including the totesport Stakes Heritage Handicap at Windsor, which he won with One More Round. One More Round was trained by Nick Littmoden, who Doyle rode for many times. During 2007 and 2008 he rode 41 and 53 winners respectively. The following two years he did not reach 30 winners in a season, finishing with totals of 28 and 29, and had half the number of rides that he had back in 2006.^[6] After struggling to get enough rides, Doyle revealed that he contemplated going on a plumbing course in 2010.^[7] However, during 2011, Doyle got booked for many more rides than the previous two years and at the end of the year had won 76 races in the UK, and had also started riding for Roger Charlton.^[6] At the end of the 2011 UK flat season, Doyle went to the UAE to ride for Dhruba Selvaratnam, winning his first race in November,^[8] and the Listed UAE Cup in December.^[9]

Roger Charlton

Doyle became stable jockey to Roger Charlton in 2012, and on 31 March, scored his first Group 1 success, when he rode Charlton's Cityscape to win the Dubai Duty Free Stakes by over four lengths.^[10]^[11] By the end of the 2011/12 UAE racing season, Doyle had ridden 23 winners.^[12] The following year he won three Group 1 races with Al Kazeem, including the Prince of Wales's Stakes and Eclipse Stakes.

Godolphin

From late 2014, Doyle was one of the retained UK riders for Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin operation. He originally rode the horses trained in Newmarket by Saeed bin Suroor, while William Buick rode those trained by Charlie Appleby. In 2014, he won the Irish 2,000 Guineas and St James's Palace Stakes with Kingman. In May 2015, he rode Night of Thunder to victory in the Lockinge Stakes.^[2] In 2016 he lost his position as first jockey for bin Suroor^[13] and was absorbed into Appleby's team as Buick's number two.^[1]

He continued to gain Group 1 successes for Godolphin in 2017 - the St James's Palace Stakes on Barney Roy, the Prix du Moulin on Ribchester and the Prix Marcel Boussac on Wild Illusion. He had international success on Jungle Cat in 2018 and scored his best year numerically to date, winning 156 of his 633 UK races for £4,745,322 in prize money.^[6] In 2019, he did the King's Stand Stakes and Diamond Jubilee Stakes Royal Ascot double with Blue Point and in 2022, did a 1000 / 2000 Guineas Stakes double, riding the George Boughey-trained Cachet to win the former and Godolphin's Coroebus to win the latter.

Wathnan Racing

In October 2023, it was announced he would quit Godolphin after nine years to ride for the Emir of Qatar's Wathnan Racing operation. Doyle had ridden the Emir's Ballymount Boy to win the Prospect Stakes at Doncaster a few days prior. ^[1]