Jockey Steve Drowne, whose career highlights include Group 1 wins aboard Jwala (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) in the G1 Nunthorpe S. and Queen's Logic (Ire) (Grand Lodge) in the G1 Cheveley Park S., will retire from the saddle by the end of the year. The 45-year-old Drowne rode more than 1,400 winners in a career spanning nearly 30 years.
“I'm going to wrap it up at the end of the year,” he told At The Races. “The time is right and I've had a good innings. I haven't set a date, just around Christmas. I won't be riding come Jan. 1.”
“You know it's going to come at some point,” he added. “Financially it's getting tougher and tougher every year. It's just the right time. For 25 years I've been really flat out. It's 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It's not you suddenly think 'that's it.' I thought 'I've had a good innings, the winters are hard now and there aren't so many rides about.' You make your money in the summer and it lasts the year.”
Drowne also won the G1 July Cup aboard Sakhee's Secret (GB) (Sakhee), who he described as “probably the best sprinter I rode.”
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