Marco Ghiani is a

flat racing Horse racing is an equestrianism, equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all spor ...

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used ...

, who was 2021

British flat racing Champion Apprentice The flat racing Champion Jockey and Champion Apprentice titles are awarded annually to the jockey(s) and apprentice(s) respectively that have ridden the most winners (both turf and all-weather) in Great Britain during a set period or championship ...

. Ghiani, who is not from a racing background, grew up in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

and was encouraged to pursue his dreams of becoming a jockey by Italian jockey Dario Vargiu. He left Sardinia for Newmarket and attended a course at the

British Racing School The British Racing School is one of the two racing schools in the United Kingdom. Established in 1983, it is a charitable trust providing training for young people working in the horse racing industry. The school is based in Newmarket, Suffolk, an ...

. He started out riding for

Luca Cumani Luca Matteo Cumani (born 7 April 1949, in Milan, Italy) is an Italian thoroughbred horse trainer and breeder. He trained at Bedford House Stables in Newmarket from 1976 to 2019. He has trained a multitude of high-profile horses, including seven ...

in 2017, but joined the stable of Stuart Williams as apprentice when Cumani retired. He had his first race rides in 2018, getting 1 second and 3 thirds from in 11 rides. Then, in 2019, he had his first winner, ending the season with 22 wins from 131 races. In 2020, it was 19 from 204. In 2021, he became Champion Apprentice, topping 100 winners for the year and winning nearly £900,000 in prize money. During the season, he rode out his apprentice claim on 1 July 2021, winning on the Hugo Palmer-trained Surprise Picture. His most successful partnership was with the

Saeed Bin Suroor Saeed bin Suroor (; born 16 November 1968 in Dubai) is a horse racing horse trainer, trainer in Great Britain. Formerly a policeman, he took out his training licence in 1995 and the following year was appointed as the trainer for Mohammed bin Ra ...

trained Real World, on whom he got his first

Royal Ascot Ascot Racecourse is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, about 25 miles west of London. Ascot is used for thoroughbred horse racing, and it hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 races and three Gra ...

win in the

Royal Hunt Cup The Royal Hunt Cup is a flat handicap horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres), and it is scheduled to ...

, before following up in the Listed Steventon Stakes and Group 3

Strensall Stakes The Strensall Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at York over a distance of 1 mile and 177 yards (1,771 metres), and it is sche ...

. He won the 2021

Lester Award A Lester Award is one of a range of awards given to jockeys at an annual ceremony in Great Britain. The awards are named in honour of Lester Piggott, an eleven-time British flat racing Champion Jockey who won thirty British Classic Races from 1954 ...

for Apprentice Jockey of the Year. He won fewer races in 2022, ending the season with 64, but among them were the Listed Premio d'Italia Tattersalls on Cime Tempestose and

Queen Charlotte Fillies' Stakes The Queen Charlotte Fillies' Stakes is a Listed flat horse race in Great Britain open to fillies and mares aged four years or older. It is run over a distance of 7 furlongs () at Chelmsford City in June. The race was creat ...

on Soft Whisper, again for Saeed Bin Suroor. His career as "a rising star of the weighing room" was not helped by a positive cocaine test following a race at

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

on 25 August. He was stood down in September, and his six-month ban was backdated to then when handed out in November. Ghiani was appointed as the retained rider for leisure tycoon Peter Harris for the 2023 season. A partnership with Harris's Mill Stream, trained by Jane Chapple-Hyam, brought him two big French races within a few weeks in August - the Prix Moonlight Cloud and

Prix de Meautry The Prix de Meautry is a Group 3 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Deauville over a distance of 1,200 metres (about 6 furlongs), and it is schedule ...

. Ghiani spoke of his hope of winning his first Group 1 on him in the

Haydock Sprint Cup The Sprint Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Haydock Park over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), a ...

, but in the end, though disputing the lead briefly, he finished sixth. He ended the season 56th in the jockeys' championship with 25 winners from 239 rides in the championship period. In November 2023, he won the Group 3 St. Leger Italiano on Roberto Escobarr for trainer Michael Appleby. In March 2024, Ghiani was banned for 34 days (9 suspended) for breaching whip rules on five occasions in the previous six months. He finished the year on 66 winners, including three Group 3 wins in England (the Chartwell Fillies' Stakes and the

Sceptre Stakes The Sceptre Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Great Britain open to fillies and mares aged three years or older. It is run at Doncaster over a distance of 7 furlongs and 6 yards (1,414 metres ...

, both on Great Generation for Marco Botti) and two wins in listed races in Italy. May 2025 saw another victory for Ghiani on Great Generation in the Chartwell Stakes. On 2 June 2025, he achieved his first success in a Group 2 race when he rode Molveno in the

Derby Italiano The Derby Italiano is a Group 2 flat horse race in Italy open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Capannelle over a distance of 2,200 metres (about 1 mile and 3 furlongs), and it is scheduled to take place each year ...

for Botti.

Personal life

Ghiani and his partner Brooke Brown have a son, Louis, born in May 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghiani, Marco 1999 births Living people Italian jockeys Sportspeople from Sardinia British Champion apprentice jockeys Lester Award winners

Personal life

See also

References