Jack Kennedy Profile

Born just before the turn of the millennium, Jack Kennedy has wasted little time in his fledgling career in the saddle.

Working alongside renowned trainer Gordon Elliott, he registered his first winner around Cheltenham at the tender age of 17.

Since then, he has set about rewriting the history books and improving his statistics. He has already racked up more than 150 winners since, 12 of which have come at the Cheltenham Festival.

He has a wise head on young shoulders but his rise and rise in horse racing will have surprised nobody in the Kennedy household. He has two older brothers also in the industry: Percy Kennedy is a jockey, while Michael Kennedy is a horse racing trainer.

Kennedy faces a race against time to be fit for the Cheltenham Festival in 2025 after breaking his leg for the sixth time in his career in a horrific fall at Fairyhouse last year.

Jack Kennedy Record and Previous Winners

Jack Kennedy’s first-ever win came on Funny How for Pat Flynn at Cork on 22nd May 2015. He was just 16.

The following year, he landed the Grade 1 Lexus Chase at Leopardstown aboard Outlander, an 8/1 shot. It was simultaneously his first Grade 1 success and 100th career winner.

Jack Kennedy Cheltenham Record

Jack Kennedy’s Cheltenham record could be made into a movie.

How about his first winner at the Cheltenham Festival at the age of just 17, riding the Elliott-trained Labaik to Supreme Novices' Hurdle glory in 2017?

Or what about the time he became the youngest-ever jockey to pick up the Cheltenham Gold Cup, riding Minella Indo to victory in 2021 at the age of 21?

That result landed Henry de Bromhead a historic treble as the first trainer to win the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup at one Cheltenham Festival meeting.

Kennedy has 12 winners at the festival – including Delta Work in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase in 2022. In 2023, he missed out on the event altogether due to a leg fracture sustained at Naas just two months earlier.

Last year, he came out on top in the Stayers’ Hurdle on Teahupooo and, if passed fit for the 2025 event, will surely be eyeing up another successful meeting.

Jack Kennedy Recent Winners

Given his leg injury, there are no recent winners to report. Instead, let’s take a look at a reminder of his best winners at Cheltenham over the years:

• Cheltenham Gold Cup – Minella Indo (2021)
• Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase – Delta Work (2022)
• Triumph Hurdle – Farclas (2018)
• Golden Miller Novices' Chase – Shattered Love (2018)
• Fred Winter Juvenile Novices' Handicap Hurdle – Veneer Of Charm (2018)

Jack Kennedy in Numbers

• 12 – Kennedy has landed 12 wins at Cheltenham in his young career so far
• 40 – More than 40% of his career wins have come on horses aged 5 or 6
• 21 – Kennedy’s age when he landed Cheltenham Gold Cup success aboard Minella Indo

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