Aidan Coleman
Multiple Grade 1-winning rider Aidan Coleman was born in Co. Cork on August 17, 1988. He moved to Britain in 2006 to work for Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning trainer Henrietta Knight.
He made his debut when finishing ninth on the Henrietta Knight-trained Silverbar in a Hereford bumper on December 23, 2006. Almost ten months elapsed before he rode his first winner, Tashkandi, for trainer Sarah Humphrey in a Uttoxeter selling hurdle on October 17, 2007.
Soon afterwards, he joined Herefordshire trainer Venetia Williams, with whom he would go on to enjoy a lengthy association. He achieved his first graded success when winning the Grade 3 Red Rum Handicap Chase at Aintree aboard the New Zealand-bred Stan for Williams on April 3, 2008. They followed up by winning the 2m 5f Silver Trophy Handicap Chase, another Grade 3 contest, at Cheltenham’s April meeting, then won again over the same course and distance on New Year’s Day 2009.
Aidan opted to ride better-fancied Stan in the 2009 Grand National in preference to 100-1 stablemate Mon Mome. Stan fell at the seventh fence while Mon Mome stormed to an unlikely triumph in the hands of Liam Treadwell. Aidan later finished third on Mon Mome in the 2010 Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The pain of missing out on a Grand National winner was eased slightly by being crowned champion conditional jockey for that 2008/09 season with 55 wins. They included his first Cheltenham Festival victory on Kayf Aramis in the Pertemps Hurdle Final.
He won the Welsh Grand National in 2014 on Emperor’s Choice, and enjoyed his best season numerically in 2015/16 with 129 wins, placing him second to Richard Johnson in the jockeys’ table, the highest placing of his career.
The horse with which he was most famously associated was Emma Lavelle’s popular staying hurdler Paisley Park. That horse gave Aidan his first Grade 1 victory in the 2018 Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot. They won the race again in both 2020 and 2022, as well as three renewals of Cheltenham’s Cleeve Hurdle in 2019, 2020 and 2022. However, their most famous victory came when winning the £182,877 Grade 1 Stayers’ Hurdle at the 2019 Cheltenham Festival.
He won two other Grade 1 races at the Cheltenham Festival, both aboard Put The Kettle On for Henry de Bromhead, in the 2020 Arkle Chase and the 2021 Queen Mother Champion Chase.
Aidan also built up a successful association with the Nicky Henderson, particularly on the J.P. McManus-owned duo Epatante and Jonbon. He won nine races on Jonbon, four at Grade 1 level, and landed back-to-back renewals of Newcastle’s Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle on Epatante in 2021 and 2022 (the latter a dead heat), along with the 2022 Grade 1 Aintree Hurdle.
He twice finished second in the Champion Hurdle, on My Tent Or Yours in 2017 and Epatante in 2022. He also finished second in the 2021 Grand National on Balko Des Flos.
Aidan rode his 1,000th win over jumps on Western Miller at Southwell on June 23, 2019.
He had what would prove to be his final win at Uttoxeter on May 28, 2023 on Gloire D'Athon for Sarah Humphrey, the trainer who had provided him with the first success of his career almost 16 years earlier.
On June 15, 2023 he suffered a serious knee injury when his mount Ascension Day ran out and crashed through the wing of a hurdle at Worcester. The incident left him with a shattered tibia and led to a complex recovery process, which eventually forced him to announce his retirement from race-riding on medical grounds on April 7, 2024, at the age of 35.
He ended his career with a total of 1,251 winners in Britain and Ireland (GB 1,242, Ireland 4) plus 5 on Flat), including 13 at Grade 1 level.
Major wins:
2008: Red Rum Handicap Chase – Stan
2009: Pertemps Hurdle Final – Kayf Aramis
2014: Welsh Grand National – Emperor’s Choice
2016: BetVictor Gold Cup – Taquin Du Seuil
2018: Long Walk Hurdle – Paisley Park
2019: Cleeve Hurdle – Paisley Park
2019: Stayers’ Hurdle – Paisley Park
2020: Cleeve Hurdle – Pasiley Park
2020: Arkle Chase – Put The Kettle On
2020: Fighting Fifth Hurdle – Epatante
2020: Long Walk Hurdle – Paisley Park
2021: Queen Mother Champion Chase – Put The Kettle On
2021: Fighting Fifth Hurdle – Epatante (dead heat)
2021: Kennel Gate Novices’ Hurdle – Jonbon
2022: Rossington Main Novices’ Hurdle – Jonbon
2022: Cleeve Hurdle – Paisley Park
2022: Aintree Hurdle – Epatante
2022: Top Novices’ Hurdle – Jonbon
2022: Henry VIII Novices’ Chase - Jonbon
2022: Long Walk Hurdle – Paisley Park
2023: Maghull Novices’ Chase – Jonbon
2023: Celebration Chase – Jonbon
