BIG BEN STRIKES TO BREAK UP THE BIG TWO

Ian Heitman has been impressed with a jockey who has ended the Morris-Kirby grip on the all-weather title

- Ian Heitman

Adam Kirby and Luke Morris have each won three leading all-weather jockey titles since the AllWeather Championships began in 2013, however there will be a new champion this season. Ben Curtis has already surpassed the totals that won the jockey titles in the last three years and Morris’s total of 102 in 2014/15 looks under threat.

Curtis has been extremely consistent over the last few months and even managed to bag a valuable win in Dubai for Mick Channon in mid-January before jetting back to ride a double at Newcastle the following day. Mick Appleby, the runaway leader in the trainer’s title, has been the trainer to supply Curtis with the most number of winners, but he has ridden winners for 35 trainers.

Appleby looks set for a fourth trainer’s title and should be able to break his previous best of 51 winners set last season having trained winners at all six of the all-weather courses, with his local course, Southwell accounting for nearly half of his current tally.

Godolphin currently lead the way to be the leading owners for the sixth consecutive year but Lee Power’s Power Geneva Ltd is only a few winners behind.

The winners of the leading jockey, trainer and owner receive £10,000 as do the connections of the most successful horse and that looks to heading to the connections of Agent Of Fortune who has six wins to her name, her latest two wins coming in the space of just over 20 hours having dead-heated at Chelmsford on January 30, she won easily at Lingfield on January 31 and despite her next run being off a career high mark of 76, she is thriving and could easily add to her six wins.

THREE-YEAR-OLD