'I've been privileged to do a job I've loved for so many years' - Joe Fanning announces his retirement from race-riding

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Joe Fanning called time on one of the most successful riding careers in British racing history when announcing his retirement on Tuesday evening at the age of 55.

Fanning has not ridden in a race since last November following successful surgery for prostate cancer.

Just six jockeys have ridden more Flat winners in Britain than the adopted Yorkshireman, who was renowned for his prowess on front-runners and showed masterful judgement of pace when landing the biggest success of his career on Subjectivist in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in 2021.

That was the highlight of his long association with Mark and then Charlie Johnston at Kingsley House in Middleham, a yard that provided around half of his final career tally of 2,947 Flat winners in Britain.

In a statement posted on X by his agent Niall Hannity, Fanning said: "After discussing it with my family and close friends, I've decided to retire from race-riding with immediate effect.

"Although I made a full recovery from prostate cancer at the end of last year, I feel now is the right time, with so much of the current season already behind us.

"I've been incredibly fortunate to enjoy a career in the UK since arriving to join Tommy 'Squeak' Fairhurst in 1988, and to have ridden close to 3,000 winners worldwide.

"There are so many people to thank, but it goes without saying that my association with Mark, Deirdre and Charlie Johnston, spanning three decades, has been a huge part of my career and the source of so many memorable winners."

It was Fairhurst's stable that the graduate of the Racing Academy and Centre of Education at the Curragh joined on leaving Ireland in 1988.

As with future Flat rival Ryan Moore, his first winner was over hurdles, in his case on Holdenby in a handicap at Sedgefield.

But by his own admission he was too light and he gave up jump racing after fracturing two vertebrae in a fall at Newcastle.

Subjectivist: won the Ascot Gold Cup under Joe Fanning in 2021Credit: Edward Whitaker

Fanning scored his first Flat success on Henry Will in an apprentice handicap at Yarmouth in 1990, rode out his claim in two seasons and landed his first big prize on Highflying for George Moore in the Northumberland Plate at Newcastle in 1993.

However, it was only after joining Mark Johnston full-time in 1995 that his career really took off. He quickly established himself as a quietly efficient jockey, the safest of safe pairs of hands and willing to travel anywhere for the team.

He rode a century of winners for the first time in 2006, repeated the feat every year from 2009 to 2019 and was champion all-weather jockey in 2009-10 and 2011-12.

Although he made his Group-race breakthrough on Yavana's Pace in the September Stakes at Epsom in 1999, it was often his fate to partner Johnston's stars early in their careers only to lose the mount to a bigger-name jockey.

He did not ride a Group 1 winner until he landed the Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket in 2016 on the day of his 46th birthday.

The Last Lion: a first Group 1 winner for Joe Fanning in the Middle Park in 2016Credit: Mark Cranham

Fanning said: "I've been lucky enough to experience countless special days in racing, but The Last Lion winning the Middle Park, and Subjectivist's Ascot Gold Cup success, in Dr Jim Walker's colours, will always stand out.

"It feels especially fitting my final ride was a winner for Johnston Racing aboard Loquella at Newcastle last November.

"Make no mistake, I'm not disappearing from racing. I'll continue helping my wife Sarah with our sales and pre-training business, and I'll also carry on riding work for Johnston Racing, where I was this morning.

"I'd like to thank every owner, trainer, stable staff, jockey, racecourse official and racing fan who has supported me throughout my career. I've been privileged to do a job I've loved for so many years, and I'll always be grateful for the opportunities and friendships the sport has given me."

Putting an end to jumping did not put an end to injury. Fanning spent seven months on the sidelines after breaking two vertebrae in a fall at Goodwood in 2007 and was put out of action for a similar spell 15 years later when suffering a spiral fracture of the humerus in another tumble at Musselburgh.

Yet Fanning battled back to fitness each time, outlasted his contemporaries in the weighing room and showed the enthusiasm of a jockey half his age right to the end. In his final season in 2025, he rode at 30 courses in Britain and for more than 50 yards.

'He is selflessness personified and truly dedicated'

Racing Post reporter David Carr pays tribute to the popular retiring rider

If you can walk the walk like Joe Fanning can, who cares that you are highly reluctant to talk the talk?

Rarely has so successful a sportsman been so averse to the limelight or so loath to celebrate his achievements. He will hate this appreciation of all that he has done.

Tough. His is a career to shout from the rooftops about. Three decades of quiet, dogged determination, of hard work and dedication, and no little skill and talent.

Teaming up with the prolific Mark Johnston in Middleham, the winningmost trainer in British racing history, clearly contributed to the consistent flow of victories that thrust him into the all-time top seven of jockeys.

But that was no fluke. Just as it is no coincidence that the best Formula 1 drivers end up in the fastest car in the most successful teams.

Johnston knew what he was getting when he signed Fanning up full time 30 years ago – a down-to-earth jockey with a strict aversion to anything flash or fancy; a masterful judge of pace with the top jockey’s knack of invariably being in the right place at the right time; and a loyal team member who seemed to thrive on the busy workload of a leading jockey in the modern era.

He thought nothing of driving all the way down to Kempton, Lingfield or even Brighton, getting back home in North Yorkshire at 1am – and be cheerful chatting on the phone to his agent Niall Hannity at 5am.

That chat would invariably be about anyone other than J Fanning. He is selflessness personified.

No ride tells you more about the man than his brilliant effort to land the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot on Subjectivist in 2021.

Not only did the way he judged things perfectly from start to finish, going on from nearly half a mile out to score the biggest win of his career, show he was a master of his craft.

But also the way the weighing room emptied to cheer him back in as he returned to the winner's enclosure was testament to his popularity with his fellow jockeys, who knew a decent man when they saw one.

Despite the second lengthy injury layoff of his career, there was scarcely any diminution of his appetite in his later years – or his mastery on a front-runner.

The manner in which he rode his rivals to sleep to take the Dick Hern Stakes at Haydock in August on Suite Francaise was typical Fanning.

So too was the immediate self-deprecating response to the suggestion he had given the filly a good ride: “You have to have the horse as well.”

Joe Fanning CV

Full name Joseph Kevin Fanning
Born September 24, 1970
Apprenticed to Kevin Connolly, Henry Candy, Liam Browne, Tommy Fairhurst
First winner Holdenby, handicap hurdle, Sedgefield, November 14, 1989
First Flat winner Henry Will, apprentices' handicap, Yarmouth, June 6, 1990
First winner for Mark Johnston Kingsley, Catterick, July 31, 1991
First big-race winner Highflying (1993 Northumberland Plate)
First Group winner Yavana's Pace (1999 September Stakes)
Ascot Gold Cup winner Subjectivist (2021)
Other Group 1 wins The Last Lion (2016 Middle Park Stakes), Subjectivist (2020 Prix Royal-Oak)
Group 2 winners in Britain Shamardal (2004 Vintage Stakes), Darasim (2004 Goodwood Cup), Boscobel (2007 King Edward VII Stakes), Heavy Metal (2012 Richmond Stakes), Fulbright (2012 Challenge Stakes), Universal (2013 Jockey Club Stakes, Princess of Wales's Stakes), Bow Creek (2014 Celebration Mile), Living Legend (2022 Jockey Club Stakes)
Classic winners (Group 2) Nyaleti (2018 German 1,000 Guineas), Main Edition (2019 German 1,000 Guineas)
Other Group 2 winners abroad Darasim (2003 Prix Kergorlay), Mister Monet (2004 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano), Bow Creek (2014 Clipper Boomerang Mile), Subjectivist (2021 Dubai Gold Cup)
Royal Ascot wins 10
British centuries 12
Winningmost jockey of the year in Britain 2012 (188 wins)
Champion all-weather jockey 2009-10, 2011-12
Most wins in a year in Britain 188 (2012)
Total wins in Britain 2,947 on Flat (7th on all-time list), plus 1 over hurdles
Compiled by John Randall

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