Nicky Mackay

Born on March 12, 1985, Nicky Mackay is the son of jockey Allan Mackay and grandson of Classic-winning jockey Eric Eldin. His younger brother Jamie was also a jockey.

Nicky served his apprenticeship with Nick Littmoden and Luca Cumani/. He rode his first winner on Ascari, trained by William Jarvis, in a 1m 2f apprentices’ handicap at Yarmouth on May 29, 2002.

He recorded his first big race success on Admiral in the 2004 King George V Handicap at Royal Ascot. The following year he landed Haydock’s Old Newton Cup on Zeitgeist and, in 2006, the Newbury Spring Cup on Forgery.

Nicky recorded his most important British victory on Suggestive, trained by William Haggas, in the Group 3 Criterion Stakes on July 1, 2006. That was also his most successful season numerically with a score of 57 winners. He rode a second Royal Ascot winner on Sagramor in the 2011 Britannia Handicap.

In March 2017 he suffered a broken leg in a 1m 2f maiden at Chelmsford when his mount, the odds-on favourite Royalistic, hung badly right and unseated him when crashing through the rails. Just days later, his father suffered a life-changing injury in a fall on the Newmarket gallops.

Recovered from his broken leg, Nicky achieved Classic race success when winning the 2019 Indian 2,000 Guineas on Trouvaille. He also finished second on him in the Indian Derby.

Nicky played an important part in John and Thady Gosden’s training operation and rode many winners for them, the last being on Peter The Great in a 1m 2f novice race at Newmarket on June 18, 2021.

With opportunities becoming fewer, he announced his retirement from race-riding after finishing seventh of nine on the Gosden-trained Well Spent in a 1m 2f three-year-old maiden fillies’ contest at Goodwood on August 27, 2021, bringing to an end a career that had amassed 533 wins in Britain including a Group 3, nine at Listed level and two at Royal Ascot.