Age: 22
Principal Trainers: Mick Easterby, Ruth Carr
James Sullivan may only have enjoyed a steadily progressive riding career in Ireland, but since joining Mick Easterby's Yorkshire yard in 2009, his career has really taken off in no uncertain terms. Having finished a close second in the race for the title of Champion Apprentice in 2010, he looks set to have a long and successful career in the saddle ahead of him.
Early Days
A native of Westmeath, like many leading jockeys before him, James Sullivan learned his trade in the apprentice school in Kildare, RACE. Having graduated in 2004, he joined the Curragh-based trainer James Burns and had his first ride on a horse called Our Bluebottom in a maiden at Cork on March 27th 2005. With Burns not enjoying the best of years in terms of winners trained, Sullivan went through his first two years of riding without having a winner from a total of 45 rides.
2007 saw Sullivan broaden his horizons in terms of riding for outside stables and it didn’t take long for that to yield results. He rode his first winner on June 3rd 2007, riding the Pat Morris-trained Royal Becky to win a 5f apprentice handicap at Navan. He added to that success a few months later when riding Thornfield Clo to win a 9f handicap at Ballinrobe in September. He finished up what was a progressive season with a couple of rides at Wolverhampton and his yearly total was two winners from 82 rides.
2008 was a year of notable progression for Sullivan, with his strike rate and work rate increasing. At the conclusion of the Flat season, he had ridden a total of seven winners for five different trainers from a total of 138 rides. In November 2008, Sullivan nearly added a notable string to his bow by almost riding a winner over hurdles on just his second attempt, finishing on the Burns-trained Brosna Val in a juvenile maiden hurdle at Thurles. Sullivan began 2009 in fair style, but in mid-May he took the tough decision to leave Ireland and take up a new position with Mick Easterby in the North of England.
England Calling
Once settled in England, Sullivan gradually gathered momentum, taking rides for a wide variety of trainers and riding a steady stream of winners as the months progressed. He enjoyed a particularly strong finish to the season, riding four winners from just 14 rides in December, giving him a total of 11 wins from 202 rides for the year. That strong finish to the season marked him down as a rider to follow and Sullivan’s career would very much take off in 2010.
The opening months of the year proved to be profitable for Sullivan, but it wasn’t until the turf season got into full flow that he really began to roll. From May through to August, he was one of the hottest apprentice riders in the whole country, riding 30 winners from no less than 346 rides. That win very much made him the one to beat in the race for the title of Champion Apprentice, but unfortunately he couldn’t quite maintain his momentum, riding just five more winners in the remaining months of the season, which saw him lose out by four winners to Martin Lane. While it was obviously disappointing to come up short for that title, it was a remarkably successful season for Sullivan and it set him up for what he hoped would be an even better campaign in 2011.
2011 started off in solid style for Sullivan, but as had been the case in 2010, he really came to life once the turf season got underway. His month-by-month tally of winners has risen notably every month since April and he is well on target to better his 2010 tally of winners. With a few winners left to ride before he loses his 3 lb claim, James Sullivan looks to be building momentum at the right time and looks sure to continue with great success as a fully-fledged jockey, with a first big-race win unlikely to be too far away.
Updated June 2011
