Colin Keane sets new record for winners in a season in Ireland

Champion jockey eclipses Joseph O’Brien with victory for boss Ger Lyons.

Champion jockey Colin Keane set a new record for winners in a season in Ireland as he landed his 127th victory of the campaign aboard Power Under Me at the Curragh.

Keane – who equalled the best set by Joseph O’Brien with a winner at Dundalk on Friday – was always to the fore aboard Ger Lyons’ 15-8 favourite in the Listed Hatstone Solicitors Waterford Testimonial Stakes.

Forging on from inside the two-furlong marker, the market leader briefly looked set to face a stern challenge from Teresa Mendoza – but ultimately was good value for his two-and-three-quarter-length victory.

Keane said: “We’ve been getting close to it slowly but surely – I’ve had plenty of seconds in the last two weeks.

“It was great to level it for the boss and then to go and beat it for the boss is even better.

“It hasn’t sunk in and probably won’t until we start on zero next year and we’re looking back on it.

“We try to beat every year’s tally, we mightn’t have a year like this again for a while so we’ll appreciate it while it’s here.”

All smiles for record-breaker Colin Keane at the Curragh
All smiles for record-breaker Colin Keane at the Curragh (PA)

Keane, 27, was champion for the first time in 2017 and regained the title last year, while O’Brien notched up his biggest tally when claiming it for the second year running back in 2013.

Among Keane’s notable successes of 2021 are Group Ones on Helvic Dream in the Tattersalls Gold Cup and, further afield, Broome in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.

In 2020, he enjoyed his first Classic victories on Siskin in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and Even So in the Irish Oaks – as well as the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Tarnawa.

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