Cobden or Bowen will break new ground in battle for jockeys’ title

With just over two weeks of the Jump season remaining it, is all but certain the new champion jockey will also be the first former novice point-to-point title-holder.

This article first appeared in the Racing Post on Friday 5th April.

Harry Cobden (pictured above at Bratton Down in June 2015) and Sean Bowen launched themselves into professional careers after one season of riding in point-to-points, but they were nothing if not busy during that informative and educational period. Bearing in mind that most novices content themselves with a handful of rides in their debut year, Bowen, aged 16, weighed out 42 times in the 2013/14 season, rode ten winners and landed the novice men’s title and the Wilkinson Sword award given to riders under 21. He unseated on his first ride when driving his uncle Willie Bryan’s Natural Action into the third-last fence at Barbury Racecourse – clearly no nerves, and in fairness the horse all but laid down – and rode his debut winner on his fifth spin.

Sean Bowen in the 201314 season when he won the novice riders’ title

Incidentally, those figures pale beside those of his brother James, who in the 2016/17 season rode in 55 point-to-points and came first in a record 30 – yet he did not turn 16 until March and so missed half the season. The brothers were helped by being entrenched in racing, and with parents Peter and Karen having backgrounds in point-to-pointing.

Cobden did not have a family association with the sport, but he excelled at pony racing and gained support from acquaintances made in that sphere and on hunting fields in Dorset. I suspect Paul Nicholls was tipped off about his talent before Cobden realised he possessed it. Starting one year after Sean Bowen – and in the same novice riders’ race at Barbury – Cobden pulled up when riding El Mondo for Rachael Honeyball, but won on his third start and went on to notch 13 winners from 32 rides.

He and Bowen can attribute part of their novice title success to one horse, Cock Of The Rock, who as a nine-year-old when trained by David Brace provided Sean with four winners before joining Honeyball’s yard the following season and scoring seven times under Harry.

Sean Bowen winning on Cock Of The Rock at Whitfield in April 2014

Harry Cobden riding Cock Of The Rock at Bratton Down in June 2015

Cobden’s first ride in a hunter chase resulted in a 33/1 win on El Mondo for Honeyball, but in 2021, when Covid restrictions prevented amateurs from riding under rules, he added seven more victories in that sphere. As a novice Bowen had a couple of hunter chase rides without success, but gained a belated single win in 2021.

Whoever steps up to take the trophy at Sandown on April 27, they will not be the first former point-to-point rider to do so. Richard Dunwoody and Richard Johnson, to name but two, looked ready for the professional game during their brief association with the sport, but they missed out on national titles.

Since then novice riders’ races have become common at point-to-points, providing young or new riders with additional opportunities – and goals.