GAVIN SHEEHAN REACHES 1,000 WINNERS ON RIALANNAH AT SANDOWN

Gavin Sheehan reached a landmark 1,000 career winners at Sandown on Sunday when Lucy Wadham's Rialannah took the Class 2 mares' handicap hurdle over two and a half miles. The 34-year-old from Cork had the 6-1 chance four and a half lengths clear of Just A Glance at the line, with 16-1 outsider Karoline Banbou a head further back in third.

The race had been billed as the comeback of the 5-2 favourite White Noise, but she could finish only fourth of the eight runners, leaving the afternoon's headlines to the winning rider.

Sheehan's tally stretches well beyond these shores. "I've got four winners in Ireland, one in Sweden and 995 here," he told Racing TV, and he made no secret of what the moment meant. "It's a big number to get and I'm very proud," he added, according to the Racing Post.

FROM CORK TO THE KING GEORGE

Sheehan left Ireland for Britain as a teenager, arriving as a conditional rider in 2011 with a back-up plan to seek rides in France, the United States or Australia should things not work out. That insurance was never needed. He was crowned champion conditional in 2014 and has since become an established name in the weighing room.

The biggest day of his career came on Boxing Day 2023, when he picked up the ride on John "Shark" Hanlon's Hewick for the first time and galloped to Grade One glory in the King George VI Chase at Kempton, beating Bravemansgame by a length and a half.

HUNGRY FOR MORE WITH SNOWDEN

Now first jockey to Lambourn trainer Jamie Snowden, Sheehan believes both he and the yard are still on the way up, and he has joked about going in search of a second thousand. He did not have to wait long to get that next tally started, landing a two-mile bumper on the Adrian Wintle-trained One For Snowy.

With the jumps season building towards its big winter fixtures, a rider in that kind of mood will be one to keep an eye on in the months ahead.