Jockey Tom Marquand achieved a landmark 1000 British winners aboard Five Towns in the Andy Payne Fillies’ Handicap at Windsor on Monday evening.
Marquand achieved his first victory in 2014 on Mecado for the Richard Hannon team and was crowned Champion Apprentice Jockey in 2015, having recorded 54 winners during the season. He waited another two years for a first Group success, which came aboard Anna Nerium in the Group 3 Dick Poole Fillies Stakes at Salisbury in September 2017.
Speaking with Sky Sports Racing's Matt Chapman, Tom Marquand said: "It's fantastic. Look it's not only everyone at Somerville Lodge that have put in a lot of hours and work and helped me a lot with a lot of the winners that I have ridden. It's every yard, it takes a lot of horses and a lot of people to ride 1000 winners so I'm very fortunate to have had that support and hopefully, there will be another 1000."
2020 marked a turning point for Marquand, as he topped off a successful winter campaign riding in Australia with a first Group 1 success on Addeybb in the Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill in March. Further Group 1 victories followed quickly with Addeybb adding two more top-level wins in the 2020 season – in the Group 1 British Champion Stakes at Ascot and the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick on his return to Australia in the autumn.
Marquand gained a first Classic success in the Group 1 St Leger at Doncaster in September 2020 aboard Galileo Chrome, having only picked up the ride after regular jockey Shane Crosse tested positive for COVID. He achieved 176 winners during the 2021 season before recording another three Group 1 victories in 2022.
Following Five Towns' victory, Tom Marquand is on 92 winners for the current season.
