Nina Carberry

Since gaining her first winner on the Noel Meade-trained Sabrinsky in the Ladies Derby at the Curragh in 2001, Nina Carberry has quickly become one of the best-known faces in Irish racing, which is a remarkable feat for an amateur rider.

Principal Trainers: Noel Meade and Enda Bolger Nina Carberry

Notable Wins:

  • Caffrey's Bar & Restaurant Of Batterstown Handicap Chase (Peak Raider 2010)
  • La Touche Cup (Garde Champetre 2009, Good Step 2006)
  • Glenfarclas Handicap Cross Country Chase (Garde Champetre 2009 + 2008, Heads Onthe Ground 2007)
  • Killerk Construction Tipperary Hurdle (Salford City 2007)
  • Murphys Irish Stout Handicap Hurdle (Dolphin Bay 2007)
  • Paddy Power Champion INH Flat Race (Leading Run 2006, Mick The Man 2007)
  • Cork Grand National (Penny Hall 2006)
  • Omega Milk EBF Mares Novice Hurdle (Celestial Wave 2006)
  • Bewleys Hotel Dublin Airport EBF Mares Hurdle (Celestial Wave 2005)
  • totesportcasino.com Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race (Karanja 2005)
  • Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle (Dabiroun 2005)


Since gaining her first winner on the Noel Meade-trained Sabrinsky in the Ladies Derby at the Curragh in 2001, Nina Carberry has quickly become one of the best-known faces in Irish racing, which is a remarkable feat for an amateur rider. Being a daughter of Tommy Carberry and a sister to Paul and Philip, Nina was bred to be a jockey and her natural talent has shone through from the very beginning of her career. She is now well established as the top female National Hunt rider in Great Britain and Ireland and arguably as one of the best-ever female riders over jumps. She is incredibly popular amongst Irish race goers and her infectious smile that she invariably sports having ridden a winner has become her trademark.

Bursting Onto The Scene

Attached to the Noel Meade stable, Nina burst onto the international racing scene when becoming the first female rider to defeat the professionals in a race at the Cheltenham Festival since 1987 when guiding the Paul Nolan-trained Dabiroun to a clear-cut victory in the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle in 2005 and has gone from strength-to-strength since then. The 2005/6 season also saw her become the first lady to win the Qualified Riders Championship since Frances Crowley a decade previously and she duly defended that crown in 2006/7.

Cross-Country Success

While she has long been considered the top rider of bumper horses in Ireland, in recent seasons Nina has carved out a new niche for herself in cross-country chases, forming an extremely lucrative partnership with Enda Bolger to dominate those events at both Punchestown and Cheltenham. Remarkably, she has won three renewals of the Glenfarclas Handicap Cross Country Chase at the Cheltenham Festival on Garde Champetre (2009 + 2008) and Heads Onthe Ground (2007), as well as the prestigious La Touche Cup at the Punchestown Festival on Good Step in 2006 and Garde Champetre in 2009, in addition to a host of other cross-country events, all on Enda Bolger-trained horses.

A goal that all National Hunt riders have is to complete the course in the Aintree Grand National and Nina has now achieved this in all three of her rides in the world’s best known jump race, finishing ninth aboard Forest Gunner in 2006 and seventh on the John Quinn-trained Character Building in 2010 and 15th on that horse in 2011.

Nina Carberry is without question one of the most popular riders in the weighing room both amongst her fellow professionals and the racing public alike and she looks set to enjoy a long and lucrative career in the saddle.

Updated April 2011.