Sean Bowen has won the last two jumps jockeys’ championships, and his 241 winners in 2025-26 was a total only Sir Anthony McCoy has bettered in a British season. However, if you look at the horse racing odds this season, the title race has a different look. Harry Skelton, champion in 2020-21, has opened up a clear lead, and Bowen is chasing a third successive title from behind.
Where the title race stands
The 2026-27 championship runs from 2 May 2026 to 24 April 2027 and is decided on winners alone. At the start of November, Skelton had ridden 119 winners from 349 rides in the Racing Post standings published by the Professional Jockeys Association. Bowen had 89 from 395.
That is a 30-winner gap, and it has grown through the autumn. Skelton led by 23 on 8 October and by 25 on 20 October. He reached his century by the middle of October, with more than six months of the season still to run.
Why Skelton is so far clear
Skelton has been lead jockey for his brother Dan since 2013. Dan Skelton won his first trainers’ championship in 2025-26 and became the first trainer to earn more than £5 million in prize money in a British jumps season.
The yard carried that form straight into the new campaign. Its strong team of summer runners gave Harry a head start, and he has made it count.
His strike rate tells the story. Skelton has won with 34% of his rides, while Bowen’s figure is 23%. Bowen has had 46 more rides but 30 fewer winners.
Bowen’s slower start
By most jockeys’ standards, Bowen’s total is a strong return for six months’ work. Measured against his own recent seasons, it is well down. The Racing Post reported on 8 October that his winners from May to September were 30 behind the same point of 2025-26.
Bowen is stable jockey to Olly Murphy, and much of his success in the last two seasons came through that partnership. Matching last season’s pace was always going to be difficult, and this time he has had a rival with a stronger summer behind him.
Can a 30-winner lead disappear?
Bowen knows better than anyone how quickly a title race can turn. In 2023-24 he was 31 winners clear when he hurt his knee in a fall at Aintree on Boxing Day 2023.
He did not ride again until 8 February 2024. Harry Cobden closed the gap while he was out, overtook him and went on to win the title, with Bowen finishing runner-up.
That swing came from an injury rather than a loss of form, and it is the warning for Skelton. A 30-winner lead in early November is a big one, but in a sport where every ride carries the risk of a fall, no lead is safe until April.
What decides it
For Bowen to keep his crown, he needs to outscore Skelton by more than 30 winners between November and the end of April. His 241 winners last season show that he can keep up that pace over a full campaign.
Skelton rode 152 winners in his title-winning season of 2020-21. He is already within 33 of that figure.
The strength of his brother’s yard is the biggest factor in his favour. Dan Skelton had trained 92 winners by 8 October, and every one of those runners is a chance to add to his lead.
The answer, for now, is that Skelton is well placed to end Bowen’s run. Bowen needs a sharp rise in his winners and a slowdown from Skelton to close a gap of 30.
