Champion jockey Bowen criticises 'stupid' calendar
Welsh jockey Sean Bowen has been crowned Britain's leading jumps rider for the second year in a row - but has called for changes to racing's "stupid" calendar. Bowen, who officially retained his crown after Sunday's racing at Sandown, says officials should allow for more meaningful breaks for jockeys. The 28-year-old has dominated the 2025-26 season, finishing on 241 winners, with second-placed Harry Skelton on 127 and Sean's younger brother, James, finishing with 105 in third place.
But he urged authorities to revisit the schedule in the future, to ensure jockeys can have time off earlier than this year's break. "The racing calendar is fairly stupid, if I'm being honest," said Bowen. "I'll have two days off [after Sandown's jump finale] and then I'm off to Punchestown.
There's only two days put together twice all summer until our August break. " Quiz: Name the 10 champion jump jockeys before Bowen Havaila wins Gold Cup as champions crowned at Sandown The Pembrokeshire-born jockey has ridden in more than 1,000 races this season, almost 500 more than second placed Harry Skelton. "I think the calendar as a whole is not right, it doesn't really work, and two days put together twice all summer is crazy, really," he added.
"You have a day on, day off, day on, day off. It'd be very, very easy to put four or five days together, but they don't really think of that. " There will be a 19-day summer jumping break from 27 July to 14 August.
A British Horse Racing Authority spokesperson said: "We acknowledge the difficulties associated with optimising the fixture list during the summer and have continued to work to strike the appropriate balance, while maintaining the most competitive racing as possible throughout the period. " Despite the criticism of the calendar, Bowen is already relishing the prospect of defending his crown next year. "I can't wait to get back to zero and start all over again, to be honest," Bowen said.