Bygones are Banished
He finished just seven winners behind Harry Cobden 12 months ago despite spending six weeks on the sidelines following a fall in the Grade 1 Formby Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree on Boxing Day.
This season has gone much smoother. His relentless pursuit of his first Champion Jockey’s title has shown his dedication, strength and no shortage of talent.
Not only has he ridden significantly more winners than his rivals, but he finishes the season as the busiest jockey, having taken nearly 900 rides in Britain alone.
Never Say Die
His never-say-die attitude can be summed up by his Greatwood Gold Cup win on Booster Bob at Newbury in March for his boss Olly Murphy.
He was hard at work and looked like tailing off turning out of the back, but Sean galvanised his mount and conjured an unlikely strong burst down the home straight to record a quite remarkable victory.
It came just a few weeks after he rode his 1,000th career winner on bumper scorer Kefir d’Oudairies at Fakenham in February.
The Welsh-born rider had the championship sewn up some weeks ago after maintaining his lead over Harry Skelton and last year’s Champion Harry Cobden, but there has been no let up.
Glory in the Emerald Isle and Childhood Challenges
He completed a sparkling five-timer at Ffos Las last week and he still had time to hop across to Fairyhouse to win the Irish Grand National on Haiti Couleurs with a superb frontrunning ride on Easter Monday.
In becoming Champion Jockey, he joins the greats of the sport like Peter Scudamore, Sir AP McCoy and Richard Johnson.
It’s an achievement he can be proud of but it is all the more remarkable as Sean is actually allergic to horses.
As a child, too much contact with horses would have him sneezing and itching, with his eyes streaming. Even now, brushing horses can set him off but, in general, he has his unfortunate allergy under control.
A Family Affair
Sean was born into jump racing. His dad, Peter, has trained successfully in Pembrokeshire for 30 years. His mum, Karen, was a champion point-to-point jockey and now plays a big role in the success of the family training operation.
Sean’s older brother, Micky, is now joint-trainer with dad and his younger brother, James, is second jockey to Nicky Henderson. Incredibly, Sean and James dead-hated in a race at Cheltenham in December.
It’s hard to imagine a family more committed to jump racing than the Bowens. For years, before Ffos Las opened in 2009, the nearest track to their base in west Wales was Wexford in Ireland.
The family has always been well used to travelling their horses and they were no different in pursuit of success on the pony racing circuit for the sons.
Deserved Success Accompanies a Drive For More
Sean progressed into point-to-points and, in 2015, he became the youngest Champion Conditional Jockey at 17 years old while attached to Paul Nicholls’ powerful Somerset stable.
Now firmly established as number one rider for prolific Warwickshire trainer Murphy he has realised his long-held ambition to be Champion Jockey.
No one can say his first title is not thoroughly deserved and there’s every chance it will be the first of many.
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