A dream come true as Dylan Browne McMonagle crowned Champion Jockey

Dylan Browne McMonagle realised a life’s dream as the Donegal jockey was crowned Irish flat racing’s Champion Jockey.

The Letterkenny man heads to California this week for the Breeders Cup at Del Bar with a now-unassailable lead on defending champion and six-time Champion Jockey Colin Keane.

Browne McMonagle had 95 winners in the Irish flat season and the 22-year-old has been crowned as the champ.

“It’s been a tough year and a ding-dong battle, but thankfully the winners have rolled in and we’ve had a good season” Browne McMonagle said. 

“It’s great to get the trophy at the end. I’m really lucky to be where I am in Joseph’s (O’Brien) and I have plenty of support outside of there as well.”

Earlier this year, Browne McMonagle won the Irish St Leger aboard Al Riffa and has been consistently saddling winners.

He said: “From a very small age, you dream of this. Every young jockey wants to be the Champion Jockey. I have been privileged to be in the place I am riding these horses. Without Joseph and the team there, this wouldn’t be possible.

“I didn’t think at 22 I would be champion jockey so it’s pinch-myself time.

“You start off every year trying your best to ride as many winners. I was lucky to be Champion Apprentice two years in a row (2021 and 2022) and I always look for something bigger and better. It was always something on the list that I wanted to try. The winners came through and we had a great year.”

Browne McMonagle was also a talented boxer in his youth and in 2018 he won the Irish Boy 4 39kgs title at the National Stadium.

Now, he tops the charts ahead of Keane after an enthralling battle in recent weeks.

Last Monday at Gowran Park, Browne McMonagle won on 11/4 Mr Tony in the seven-furlong nursery handicap.

A day later, Browne McMonagle was aboard Perry Mason, a 25/1 chance that gave Mallow trainer Maurice Ahern his first winner in the eight-furlong handicap at the Curragh. Ahern, who saddled his first runners in May of this year, was off the mark as the four-year-old led well inside the final furlong to beat Tom Mullins’ 22/1 shot Super Exceed by half a length.

Browne McMonagle said: “I beat last year’s numbers so it has been unbelievable.

“It’s not something you concentrate on until about four or five weeks out from the end. It’s the same every day: You just get out there and try to ride as many winners as possible. 

“It was a good battle with Colin. We’re both competitions. He’s not six-time champion jockey for nothing. He sets the standard high and he’s a role model for all of us in the weigh room. Without guys like that in there it wouldn’t be the same. You have to stay on your toes all the time. Colin has set the standard.”

Browne McMonagle rides mainly now for Joseph O’Brien, who was the Champion Jockey in 2012 and 2013.

“It’s an achievement for him too,” Browne McMonagle said. “He is a man who will only go up as well. Things have been going good. As long as we keep improving and getting better, that’s the main thing.”

Browne McMoangle hailed his family, particularly mum Caroline, dad John and extended family, including uncle Adrian Browne who have been to the fore.

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He said: “They come down every weekend and they have been there from the start. 

“Nothing happens overnight and there has been a lot of hard work go into it, not just from me but from everyone else.”

It’s onwards now to California and in January he heads for Hong Kong, where he will spend three months.

“A new learning curve,” he says. “It’s a competitive circle so it is a privilege to get the call to go there.”