James Doyle
Born in Cambridge on April 22, 1988, James Doyle is the son of former trainer Jacqueline Doyle and the brother of fellow jockey Sophie Doyle, who has been based in America since 2014. he had his first ride in public on June 4, 2004, finishing unplaced in an amateur riders’ handicap at Goodwood on the 47-rated Somayda, trained by his mother. Winless after 16 rides in his inaugural season, he opened his account on June 1, 2005, steering another moderate type, Farnborough, trained by Richard Price, to victory in an apprentices’ handicap at Wolverhampton.
Fast forward seven years and, in 2012, Doyle became stable jockey to Roger Charlton at the historic Beckhampton Stables, near Marlborough, Wiltshire. He wasted little time in opening his Group 1 account, winning the Dubai Duty Free at Meydan on Cityscape on March 31 that year. The following summer he added three more victories at the highest level to his career tally, courtesy of Al Kazeem in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown Park.
In 2014, Doyle was offered a retainer by Godolphin, under the auspices of Sheikh Mohammed, and until 2016 rode as first jockey to Saeed bin Suroor at Godolphin Stables, Newmarket. He was subsequently demoted to become second jockey to Charlie Appleby, behind William Buick, at Moulton Paddocks, Newmarket. Nevertheless, Doyle his most successful season so far, numerically, in 2018, when he rode 156 winners from 633 rides, at a strike rate of 25%, and amassed nearly £4.75 million in total prize money. In 2019, he won both the King’s Stand Stakes and the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot on Blue Point, trained by Appleby, but quit Godolphin in 2023 to become first jockey to Wathnan Racing, under the auspices of Sheikh Tamim ibn Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar.