PJ McDonald celebrates 1,000th UK winner aboard Zabeel Champion at Newmarket

A delighted PJ McDonald rode the 1,000th winner of his versatile career in Britain when Zabeel Champion struck at Newmarket on Friday.

The Mark Johnston-trained runner's victory was McDonald's 963rd on the Flat in Britain to go with his 37 strikes over jumps. He has also won four races on the Flat in Ireland, but they do not count towards his domestic total.

Only one of McDonald's 1,000 winners in Britain has been in a Group 1, when Laurens gamely won the 2017 Fillies' Mile at Newmarket. However, McDonald added further top-level success in France the following season on the tenacious filly, winning the 2018 Prix de Diane.

The former jump jockey has also ridden Invincible Army, Havana Grey, Hey Gaman, Duke Of Hazzard and Far Above to Group-level success in recent seasons.

McDonald landed his first big-race win in the 2007 Scottish Grand National, winning on the Ferdy Murphy-trained Hot Weld.

On reaching 1,000 winners in Britain, McDonald said: "There are lads riding a lot more winners than me but my career only properly took off in the last five or six years. It was hard graft and small tracks, not so many good horses, in the early years but it helped me keep my feet on the ground and made me appreciate all the good that's happened over the last four or five years."

The Group 1-winning rider has not only enjoyed a fruitful partnership with Karl Burke recently, but also James Tate, who has recently provided the rider with Palace House Stakes victor Far Above and Under The Stars.

On his greatest achievement, he added: "Winning a Classic on Laurens is right up there as it was planned and to pull it off doesn't happen very often. So for us to plan that out from her two-year-old career to go and win the Prix de Diane was a great achievement."

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