Grade 1-winning jockey Jody McGarvey announces retirement after Punchestown ride

Multiple Grade 1-winning rider Jody McGarvey has announced his retirement at 34 years of age after guiding the front-running Mirazur West into third in the handicap chase at Punchestown. 

McGarvey, an immensely popular figure in the weighing room, has long been closely associated with JP McManus's runners and rode a trio of Grade 1 winners for him, each of which was trained by Willie Mullins. The first came on the exuberant Great Field in the Ryanair Novice Chase at the 2017 Punchestown festival and latterly he guided I Am Maximus to Drinmore success at Fairyhouse in 2023, in between the horse's Irish and Aintree Grand National successes.

He was again in the saddle when I Am Maximus followed up in last year's Bobbyjo Chase en route to Aintree, so he played a pivotal role in that particular journey.

The trio also combined to take the Underwriting Exchange Gold Cup Novice Chase at Fairyhouse with Janidil in 2021. 

Jody McGarvey: won a Grade 1 aboard Janidil in 2021 Credit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

After finishing third on the duo's Mirazur West, who was sent off 3-1 favourite in the Frontline Security Handicap Chase, he said: "I thought it was going to be a fairytale ending but the two others came and spoiled the party. I had another ride tomorrow but I got such a great thrill going flat to the boards out in front and leading them down to the last. I've got a lot to be thankful for. We lost Mikey [O'Sullivan] during the year and I've had my fair share of injuries but I got through it and was able to retire on my own terms. 

"I've been a lot luckier than a lot of people. I didn't really want to stop riding but the opportunities were getting thin on the ground. I wanted to go out when I felt I was still riding well and I've had a few winners in the last couple of weeks. I'm leaving the game without a chip on my shoulder." 

That win on Janidil sealed one of McGarvey's finest days in the saddle as he had teed up a Grade 1 brace earlier on the card when he guided Skyace to victory in the mares' novice hurdle for Shark Hanlon, a partnership that yielded five wins in all. However, it was the knife-edge thrill of riding the freewheeling Great Field that he nominated as his career highlight.

"It would be Great Field," he said. "He was a bit of a danger one but he was a horse with an engine and I was happy to take the chance to get on a good one. He was thrill a minute. He'd frighten the life out of anyone but I got to go round here and win my first Grade 1 here. That was a standout day for me. To come here riding an odds-on favourite for JP and Willie Mullins at a Punchestown festival, and he sailed around."

Jody McGarvey: "I'm leaving the game without a chip on my shoulder"Credit: Patrick McCann

Of the future, McGarvey revealed he would be falling in more with the Gordon Elliott team. 

"I'm doing a bit at home. I'm going to be a poor farmer now and I'm working for Gordon Elliott, so I'm still keeping my eye in and will have a chance to go racing," he said. "I'm looking forward to the next chapter. It's sad to finish riding as I love it but I was never going to be a jockey forever and I'm grateful."

A native of Coleraine in County Derry, McGarvey started out with Christy Roche and soon established himself as a go-to rider for McManus's various other trainers, a link that yielded many lucrative wins aboard horses like Plinth, Capodanno, Ballyoisin, Western Boy and Hearts Are Trumps. 

He was also the man doing the steering when Espoir D'Allen won at Limerick over Christmas in 2018, prior to going on to securing Champion Hurdle glory for Gavin Cromwell months later. 

In all, McGarvey partnered 173 winners, the first of which was aboard Roche's McManus-owned Code Of The West at Down Royal on February 1, 2012.

Read these next:

'He's a total character' - Irish Grand National hero I Am Maximus cashes in for Willie Mullins and Jody McGarvey

'Dream come true' for Jody McGarvey after Grade 1 double at Fairyhouse 

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