Barry Geraghty - Co. Meath, Ireland
27-year old Irish jockey Barry Geraghty rode his first winner at Down Royal back in January 1997 and his progress since then has been nothing short of remarkable. He has been crowned Champion Jockey on two occasions inIreland, in 1999-2000 and 2003-2004. He was leading rider at the 2003 Cheltenham Festival with five winners and has already recorded 12 wins at the meeting having ridden his first one there in 2002. In total he has ridden just over 800 winners.
In 2002/03 he led Moscow Flyer in the Queen Mother Champion Chase and easily prevailed by seven lengths. That win was the highlight of a remarkable 2003 Cheltenham Festival for Geraghty as he won no less than five races, easily winning the leading rider title for the week.
He continued the season in incredible form taking the most coveted prize of them all - the Aintree Grand National on the Jimmy Mangan-trained Monty’s Pass. In recognition of his amazing year, Geraghty was voted as ‘Sports Personality Of The Year’ later that season for his wonderful victories, the first time that this prize had been won by anyone in the racing industry.
