Ben Curtis achieved a notable milestone when riding his 1000th winner in Britain on Tuesday. © Photo Healy Racing
Cork born jockey Ben Curtis reached a notable milestone when riding his 1000th British winner aboard Merrijig at Redcar on Tuesday.
A former champion apprentice in Ireland(tied with Joseph O'Brien and Gary Carroll), Curtis started out with Ruaidhri Tierney before riding for John Joseph Murphy and latterly, John Oxx.
After riding out his claim at home, Curtis was approached by jockeys agent Simon Dodds who was looking for a rider in the North of England. Primarily based with Alan Swinbank in the early days, the Cork man went on to develop strong links with both Brian Ellison and Karl Burke over subsequent years.
Curtis achieved a seasonal best of 169 wins in 2020 and last nights win was his 79th success this year.
"I didn't even know it was my 1,000th winner to be honest," he told Racing TV. "Every milestone takes a lot to achieve so I'm delighted with it.
"There's been plenty of highlights and people who have helped me along the way. I came over here and started from scratch over a decade ago and it's been a lot of hard work, so it's a good number to get to.
"There's loads of trainers who have helped and I'd be here all day thanking them. I came over to the late Alan Swinbank, who was great and gave me my first opportunity, but there's been so many since. It's been brilliant."
