Jason Watson was born in Brighton and started riding aged 6. Watson’s first ride and first winner both came for Gary Moore, in 2017.

Riding for over 50 different yards, the winners kept coming, largely thanks to his partnership with Andrew Balding, who provided him with the main source of his winners, on his way to the highest Champion Apprentice total since 2002.

Watson’s first taste of Group 1 success came in Italy in 2019, when he won in the Premio Lydia Tesio Sisal Matchpoint aboard God Given, trained by Luca Cumani. Watson’s wait for a Group 1 in Britain lasted less than a year when he won the bet365 Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket in 2019.