Billy Loughnane, 20, to be crowned youngest Flat champion in a century
Billy Loughnane will be crowned champion Flat jockey at Ascot on Saturday. Aged 20, he is the youngest rider to take the title in more than a century. BBC Sport
He has ridden 222 winners in this championship season, 29 clear of three-time champion Oisin Murphy. Murphy has conceded the race is over. The championship goes to the jockey who rides the most winners through the Flat season, which ends on Champions Day.
They call him "Billy the Kid". He is the son of trainer Mark Loughnane and rode his first race as an apprentice at Newcastle in October 2022. Four years ago, he had never ridden in a professional race.
His name first travelled beyond racing when he won at Royal Ascot on 80-1 outsider Rashabar. BBC Sport
This season brought the horses that make champions. He partnered Bow Echo, trained by George Boughey, to three wins at Group 1 level, the highest class of race, including the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket. The colt's victory in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood proved to be its final race.
Loughnane puts the rise down to graft and memory. He keeps notes on every horse he rides in a WhatsApp group containing only himself. He said he had already sat on more than 1,000 horses this year.
The numbers are still climbing. He said Sir Gordon Richards's tally of 269 winners in a calendar year, set in 1947, is in his sights. He also wants to chase Sir AP McCoy's record of 289 winners, set over jumps, and will keep riding until the start of December to try.
What makes this stand out is the speed of it. Four seasons from apprentice rides at Newcastle to the champion's podium at Ascot. The big races on Saturday will have their own roars. The day itself belongs to the kid.
