When it comes to the Sport of Kings, we can only expect big tournament prize money that is climbing year by year. However, many people wonder where do all the winning money go and how much does a horse jockey earn?
Well, horse jockeys have a really important role in horse racing and their job is to get the most out of the horse in those two minutes of racing.
Most countries where horse racing is well embedded in their roots have schools for jockeys where they learn more about the sport and all the things that are important for becoming a professional jockey. They also need to pass certain requirements that are really hard to meet if you are not taking the job seriously.
There is no doubt that horse jockeys have a tough job, but they should be compensated with big salaries for their risk and hard work right?
How Much Do Horse Jockeys Earn?
Unlike other athletes like football or basketball players, jockeys are almost all self-employed. Most of them earn a living by appearing in different races under different owners. Although, in the past couple of years, we’ve seen many professional jockeys that made an exclusive deal with individual trainers or owners to race only with their horse.
This means that majority of jockeys charge for each job they take rather than being on a fixed salary. In other words, jockeys earn from riding fees which are set differently compared to the level of racing and popularity of the event.
The average riding fee range from £165 per ride over jumps and £120 on a flat surface. This means that a fully booked rider can earn more than £1,000 per day.
However, they don’t keep all of the money. In most cases, 10% goes to the jockey’s agent and 3% to the professional jockeys association. Further, they have deductions for insurance and on-course physiotherapists, and racing bank Weatherbys.
In other words, a jockey has lost a majority of their profits from riding fees immediately. So, from the first practice till making headlines in the Kentucky Derby 2022 news there is a huge gap and it’s very unlikely that someone with an average salary can afford to enroll themselves or their son/daughter in such activities.
The average income of a jump racing jockey is around £26,500 per year for around 200 rides per year, and the pay for flat jockeys is lower coming at £27,000 for around 300 rides per year.
Prize-Money and Sponsors
Since jockeys don’t make a lot of money from riding fees, they need another source of income to keep them going.
It is worth mentioning that riders also get performance-related pay which is a significant amount of their yearly pay. Basically, riders earn a percentage of any prize money that their mounts earn.
Depending on the race, this ranges from 8.5 to 9% of the total prize money when it comes to jumps and around 6.9% for flat racing. Under both racing types, they take home 3.5% of placed prize money, and a 10% cut of their income goes to the agent.
Riders also have another source of income that can bring home a significant sum of money, and that is sponsorship deals. Some of the riders earn money via sponsorships partnering with companies that are related to horse racing.
In most cases, the sponsorship deals are covering the jockey’s career and insurance. However, some of the more professional and well-known jockeys have additional sponsors for a one-take deal.
For example, Ryan Moore is sponsored by Al Basti Equiworld which is a horse feed company from Dubai. There isn’t an average amount on what the sponsors pay to the A Horse Jockey since this depends on many factors.
First of all, the pay depends on the jockey’s public profile and popularity, sporting success, and agent’s negotiations.
Taxes and Expenses
It is worth mentioning that jockeys have big expenses and have to pay taxes on their income. The biggest expense for jockeys is traveling. A typical rider will cover 40,000 to 60,000 miles per year, and the cost is upward of £6,000 only for fuel.
There is also tax that they have to pay on their earnings. The benefit is that most jockeys can deduct their expenses and not pay taxes on them. So things like fuel, vehicle costs, and equipment can be discounted against tax.
So, How Much do They Earn at the End?
An average professional jockey can earn from £70,000-£90,000 only from riders fees for an average of 800-1000 appearances every year. On top of that, they can earn up to £100,000 only from the percentage of the prize-money earnings which tops up at around £170,000 before tax and expenses.
Less popular jockeys earn significantly less money per year, ranging from £50,000 to £135,000 per year.
Remember in these earnings we didn’t include sponsorship deals, which for professional riders can be as high as six-figure income per year.
Conclusion- A Horse Jockey
Depending on the level of the jockey, they can earn a significant amount of money but not as close as people assume compared to the yearly earnings.
After taxes and expenses, most of them end up earning around £30,000 per year.
Putting a precise figure on jockey’s earnings can be difficult, but in sporting terms, they are not even close to top-level athletes from other sports like football, basketball, or tennis players.
