A jockey's role is arguably the most important once all the hard work has taken place in getting a runner ready for a big festival. And, the St Leger meeting has thrown up a list of jockeys that proved reliable on Town Moor in recent years.
But, before looking at the leading jockeys at Doncaster, let's see which ones stood up during this summer's biggest festivals (Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood etc).
Watch every race of the Betfred St Leger Festival live on Sky Sports Racing (Sky 415 | Virgin 519) from Thursday 10th to Sunday 13th September.
2026 Summer Festivals
Jockey | W-R | £1 | Non-Handicap | Handicap | A/E |
Ryan Moore | 24-122 | -21 | 20-78 (-7) | 4-44 (-14) | 0.85 |
Oisin Murphy | 22-176 | -45 | 12-85 (-13) | 10-91 (-32) | 0.78 |
Billy Loughnane | 15-116 | +3 | 10-54 (+22) | 5-62 (-19) | 1.03 |
William Buick | 14-100 | -39 | 8-59 (-30) | 6-41 (-9) | 0.75 |
James Doyle | 11-112 | -29 | 8-60 (-10) | 3-52 (-19) | 0.78 |
Tom Marquand | 10-114 | -52 | 5-51 (-10) | 5-63 (-42) | 0.75 |
Saffie Osborne | 10-79 | +11 | 0-17 (-17) | 10-62 (+28) | 1.26 |
Each of the above jockeys have enjoyed a good summer in riding winners at the major festivals, with several numbers really standing out.
First, Billy Loughnane's record away from handicaps at 10-54 (+22), while Saffie Osborne shone in the competitive handicaps with 10-62 (+28).
Some of those names above also appear on the St Leger Leaderboard.
St Leger Leaderboard - Last Five Years
Trainer | W-R | Win rate | £1 | Places | Place rate | A/E |
William Buick | 19-57 | 33% | +50 | 8 | 47% | 1.57 |
Oisin Murphy | 12-68 | 18% | +12 | 13 | 37% | 1.10 |
Tom Marquand | 10-64 | 16% | -14 | 15 | 39% | 1.32 |
Rossa Ryan | 6-38 | 16% | +19 | 11 | 45% | 1.37 |
David Egan | 5-30 | 17% | -3 | 5 | 33% | 1.72 |
Ryan Moore | 5-43 | 12% | -26 | 10 | 35% | 0.55 |
Robert Havlin | 5-17 | 29% | +33 | 6 | 65% | 1.89 |
William Buick has an outstanding record at the St Leger meeting, which runs in tandem with Charlie Appleby's good record - the pair combining here during the last five years at 10-20 (+30).
Jockey/Trainer | W-R | Win rate | £1 | Places | Place rate | A/E |
William Buick/Charlie Appleby | 10-20 | 50% | +30 | 1 | 55% | 1.62 |
However, a lot has been made of the below-par season Appleby endured this season, so it could be worth watching the form of Godolphin's runners early on at Doncaster on this occasion.
That said, William Buick still shows a healthy record of 9-37 (+20) for other yards at this fixture so the advice is very much to side with Buick.
It's surprising to see Ryan Moore fairly quiet at this meeting during the last five years, which comes mainly down to the below-par record of trainer Aidan O'Brien on Town Moor.
Elsewhere, Oisin Murphy is in profit at this meeting and will be pushing hard in the jockeys' title. Murphy has a very good record on the straight course at 10-45 (+12).
Straight Course - St Leger meeting (last five years)
Jockey | W-R | Win rate | £1 | Places | Place rate | A/E |
Oisin Murphy | 10-45 | 22% | +12 | 5 | 46% | 1.58 |
Rossa Ryan is also well in profit at this four-day festival, along with Robert Havlin, who boasts a very high place rate at 65% - Havlin's record for the Gosdens here is also worth noting at 3 wins from 10 runs with 5 placed (+£28).
Favourites
Once again that man William Buick comes to the fore in reliability for punters when getting a favourite home on Town Moor, with Tom Marquand another pilot who kept his cool when given the chance on a market leader.
Favourites - St Leger meeting (last five years)
Jockey | W-R | Win rate | £1 | Places | Place rate | A/E |
William Buick | 10-18 | 56% | +8 | 4 | 67% | 1.37 |
Tom Marquand | 4-7 | 57% | +8 | 1 | 71% | 2.16 |
Away from the St Leger meeting, one jockey who rode plenty of winners at Doncaster across all meetings here in 2026 is Sean Levey.
Doncaster - all meetings this season
Jockey | W-R | Win rate | £1 | Places | Place rate | A/E |
Sean Levey | 8-27 | 30% | +18 | 4 | 44% | 1.66 |
Levey has partnered plenty of runners at the St Leger meeting and his five-year record at the festival stands at 3-29 (-13). Interestingly, all three of those winners came on runners with a realistic chance at odds of 9/1 or shorter at 3-15 (+£1), with 2 others placed, so it's worth looking out for him if he appears on a fancied one at Town Moor across the four days this year.
As for the apprentice jockeys to look out for in taking valuable pounds off the saddle, a glance at the 2026 Flat season shows Conor Whiteley (claims 5lb) as a name to note. He has a return of 21-127 (A/E 1.08) since March, including two wins at Doncaster.