Jason Weaver (jockey)
Jason Weaver (born 9 February 1972) is a former British flat racing jockey who had much of his major success in the mid-1990s. In total, Weaver rode more than 1,000 winners in a career which spanned fourteen years.[1]
Biography
Weaver began his career in 1989 with Luca Cumani and became champion apprentice in 1993 with 60 winners.
Later he moved to Middleham to become a stable jockey to Mark Johnston. He is one of only seven Flat jockeys to have ridden 200 winners in one season, which he accomplished in 1994, a fine year of his career in which he also won the 2,000 Guineas on Mister Baileys.[1] However, this was achieved over a full calendar year including all-weather racing in winter, a tabulation not used for the jockeys' title in most other years. He won the 1995 Ascot Gold Cup with the horse Double Trigger and the 1995 Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp on Hever Gold Rose. A year later at Royal Ascot, Weaver won the St. James's Palace Stakes with Bijou d'Inde.
In 2002 Weaver announced his retirement as a jockey at the age of 30, citing problems with keeping his weight down the major issue.[1] However he was keen to stay in the sport, seeing his retirement as a jockey as a way forward in other management and training areas of the sport. He works as a presenter for the television horse racing channel At the Races.
However, in 2006, he announced his comeback, despite a significant weight gain. It would be only for a single race, though.[2] The match was the Ladbrokes Shergar Cup Duel, an annual prelude to the Shergar Cup at Ascot between two of the world's premier jockeys. The 2006 contest was between Jason Weaver, who represented the Great Britain and Ireland team, and Michael Roberts, who served as the Rest of the World team manager. Riding Pic Up Sticks, the win was secured by Jason Weaver, who said afterwards, "Ascot was a lucky track for me when I was riding so it is great to have ridden a winner on the new course."[3]
