Welsh jockey Sean Bowen has retained his crown as Britain's leading jumps rider for the second consecutive year, but he is far from satisfied with the current state of the racing calendar, which he describes as 'stupid.'
Bowen, 28, officially secured the title after Saturday's meeting at Sandown, finishing the season with an impressive 241 winners—more than double the tally of runner-up Harry Skelton (127) and well ahead of his younger brother James Bowen (105) in third place.
However, the champion's focus quickly turned to the grueling schedule that jockeys endure. 'The racing calendar is fairly stupid, if I'm being honest,' Bowen said. 'I'll have two days off [after Sandown's jump finale] and then I'm off to Punchestown. There's only two days put together twice all summer until our August break.'
Bowen has ridden in over 1,000 races this season, nearly 500 more than Skelton. He argues that the calendar could be improved to allow for longer breaks. 'Two days put together twice all summer is crazy, really. You have a day on, day off, day on, day off. It'd be very, very easy to put four or five days together, but they don't really think of that,' he added.
The summer jumping break is scheduled for 19 days, from 27 July to 14 August. A spokesperson for the British Horseracing Authority acknowledged the challenges, stating, 'We acknowledge the difficulties associated with optimising the fixture list during the summer and have continued to work to strike the appropriate balance, while maintaining the most competitive racing as possible throughout the period.'
Despite his criticism, Bowen is already looking ahead to next season and the possibility of surpassing a legendary record. 'I can't wait to get back to zero and start all over again, to be honest,' he said. 'And we'll obviously try and do what we did this season, if not a little bit more.'
Bowen's current tally means that only AP McCoy has ridden more winners in a British jumps season—an incredible 289 winners during the 2001-02 campaign. Bowen called that feat 'incredible' but did not rule out trying to better it. 'I think we counted 290-odd days in a season—a winner every day—so I'll have to get a scoot on at the start. But I don't think it's something that's impossible to do. It'll obviously take a lot of hard work, but if it's something that I can do, I'll definitely be trying.'