Brian Hughes named champion jump jockey

He is the first Northern-based rider to win the title since the legendary Jonjo O’Neill 40 years ago.

Hughes told The Yorkshire Post last month that he was waiting for official confirmation after the season, which was due to end this month, was brought to a premature close due to coronavirus.

On 141 winners for the campaign, he was 19 clear of Richard Johnson, the four-times champion, and Hughes has signalled his desire to prove that this win was not a fluke.

The 34-year-old originally hails from Northern Ireland and became champion conditional more than a decade ago to team up with the late Richmond trainer Alan Swinbank.

O’Neill’s son, Jonjo junior, was confirmed as champion conditional while the veteran Nicky Henderson regained the trainer’s title off Paul Nicholls. JP McManus was once again leading owner.

A date for the trophy presentations to be made to each winner will be set following the return to racing.

All racing in Britain is suspended until April 30 at the earliest.

When jump racing does next resume, which is not scheduled to be until July, it will be as part of the 2020/21 championship season.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor