Joe Fanning, elder statesman of the Weighing Room, and jockey to the powerful Middleham yard of Charlie Johnston, has announced his retirement from the saddle.

The 55 year old hasn’t ridden since November last year, when he started treatment for prostate cancer, but having successfully fended off the disease, has opted to call time on a career that stems back to his arrival in Britain in 1988 from Co. Wicklow.  His 2,948 winners since have been across every British flat racecourse, leaving him ranked seventh among our most prolific winning riders behind the likes of Piggott, Dettori, Eddery and Carson.

Although Irish by birth, his first role with Tommy “Squeak” Fairhurst at Middleham, meant he’s been based in Yorkshire all his professional life. Indeed, life began riding over obstacles, and the first of those 2,948 winners was over hurdles at Sedgefield, but contrary to most jockeys, he found himself too light to ride over jumps. It was the best career choice ever to switch.

Within a little over a year, he had recorded his first winner on the level, and he hurried through his claim in 2 seasons. Losing a claim is a breakpoint for most riders; you either fledge successfully or fall by the wayside, and it was a fortunate mount for George Moore in the 1993 Northumberland Plate that opened the door to a role at Mark Johnston’s Middleham yard as one of the chosen riders for Johnston’s prolific stable.

Johnston and Fanning shared similar characteristics: a keen ambition, a willingness to go anywhere for a winner, and a down-to-earth can-do attitude. From riding the yard’s second string horses at obscure second meetings, Fanning’s diligent approach won admirers around the sport, not least from within the Weighing Room from those that appreciate the toll a career as a jockey exerts, and personified by the congratulations heaped on him by his peers on winning the Ascot Gold Cup on Subjectivist in 2021.

This was no meteoric rise to the top. Rather a career of graft, persistence and hard work, illustrated by a first Group I winner in 2016, a full 26 years after his first winner as an apprentice. And Group winners were few and far between; even the persistent winning of the Johnston stable did not open a floodgate of top flight bloodstock to their yard.

A model of consistency, Fanning scored over 100 times a season for 11 consecutive years from 2009 – 19, including winning the All-Weather Championship twice. He’s ridden a winner on every British racecourse, and prolific amounts at those with All-Weather tracks. Unsurprisingly for a Northern-based rider, the southern-most tracks have seen him least: just one winner from 31 rides at Salisbury, a full 300 miles from Middleham.

But if this sounds like an obituary, then think again. Fanning signed off his retirement statement as follows: “Make no mistake, I’m not disappearing from racing. I’ll continue helping my wife Sarah with our sales and pre-training business and I’ll also carry on riding work for Johnston Racing, where I was this morning.”

Business as usual then. Joe, we salute you.