Ryan Mania (born 23 December 1989) is a British

National Hunt National Hunt Racing, also known as Jump Racing, is a form of horse racing particular to many European countries, including, but not limited to: France, Great Britain and Ireland. Jump Racing requires horses to jump over fences and ditches. In ...

jockey from

Galashiels Galashiels (; , ) is a town in the Scottish Borders with a population of around 12,600. Its name is often colloquially shortened to "Gala". The town is a major commercial centre for the Borders region with extensive history in the textile in ...

, most famous for winning the

2013 Grand National The 2013 Grand National (officially known as the John Smith's Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 166th annual running of the Grand National horse race at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England. The showpiece steeplechase, whic ...

on the Sue Smith-trained Auroras Encore, at starting odds of 66/1.

Early life and career

Mania was born in 1989, in Galashiels,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

to joiner Kevin and mental health worker Lesley Mania, who first sat him on a

Shetland pony The Shetland pony or Sheltie is a Scottish breed of pony originating in the Shetland Islands in the north of Scotland. It may stand up to at the withers. It has a heavy coat and short legs, is strong for its size, and is used for riding, dr ...

aged three. He began working with point-to-point horses aged 12, and rode for Peter Monteith and subsequently for Howard Johnson, before Johnson lost his trainer's licence at the end of 2011. At this point he left jump racing to work for his local hunt, the Fife Foxhounds as whipper-in. But over the winter, he started feeling he was missing out after seeing horses running which he had ridden previously and, encouraged by his agent, Bruce Jeffrey, he returned to ride for Sue Smith.

2013 Grand National

Mania had his first ride in the Grand National in 2013, and was the unexpected winner, riding 66/1 outsider Auroras Encore, and winning by nine lengths. As a 23-year-old, he was one of the youngest people to ever win the Grand National, and was also the first Scottish jockey to win the race for 117 years. He had previously been beaten by a head on the horse in the 2012

Scottish Grand National The Scottish Grand National is a Premier Handicap National Hunt steeplechase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Ayr, Scotland, over a distance of ab ...

. He made further headlines through a fall on a different horse for Sue Smith the following day, which saw him airlifted to the

Royal Victoria Infirmary The Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) is a 673-bed tertiary referral hospital and research centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with strong links to Newcastle University. The hospital is part of the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation T ...

hospital with suspected neck and back injuries. It was later discovered he had fractured a vertebra at the base of his neck. He returned to race riding on the first day of the

meeting at

Ayr Ayr ( ; ; , meaning "confluence of the River Àir"), is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. A former royal burgh, today it is the administrative centre of South Ayrshire Council, and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With ...

on 19 April 2013.

Retirement

Mania announced his retirement from riding in November 2014 at the age of 25, citing problems maintaining his riding weight as the main reason and saying that he no longer got a "kick out of winning" After retiring from jump racing he worked as a kennel huntsman for the Braes of Derwent

Hunt Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

and as master huntsman for the Berwickshire hunt. During his retirement he rode in a charity race at

Aintree Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, northeast of Liverpool city centre. In 2011 the parish had a p ...

, the scene of his Grand National triumph, in aid of the

Countryside Alliance The Countryside Alliance (CA) is a British organisation promoting issues relating to the countryside such as farming, rural services, small businesses and field sports, aiming to "Give Rural Britain a voice". History The Countryside Allian ...

. He also had a spell as assistant trainer to Sandy Thomson, a National Hunt trainer in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

Comeback to racing

Mania made his comeback as a National Hunt jockey in October 2019, citing improvements in sports nutrition which allowed him to manage his weight more effectively than previously, as well as family influences and rediscovering his appreciation of the sport. The first race of his comeback was aboard Fair Minx at

with his mount finishing seventh of ten runners. Mania rode Hill Sixteen at the

2023 Grand National The 2023 Grand National (officially known as the Randox Health, Randox 2023 Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 175th annual running of the Grand National horse race. It took place on Saturday 15 April 2023, at Aintree Racecourse ne ...

who fell at the first fence and died almost immediately from their injuries.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mania, Ryan Scottish jockeys 1989 births Living people Sportspeople from Galashiels