Tadhg O'Shea: The relentless champion jockey who has helped redefine UAE horse racing

Khaleej Times

11-04-2025

Over two decades have passed since a young, unassuming Irish apprentice jockey landed on UAE shores with little more than raw talent and relentless drive.
Today, Tadhg O'Shea is a titan of the sport - 12-time UAE Champion Jockey, Group 1 winner, and the most successful rider in the country's racing history.
His is not just a story of winning races. It's a story of building something lasting, something that reaches beyond the winner's enclosures and the roar of the Meydan crowd. It's about a career carved out through perseverance and an unshakable love for the sport.
When UAE racing fans saw O'Shea ride for the first time in the Emirates, there was already something magnetic about his approach - nothing flashy, just determination and an uncanny ability to read a race and ride every horse to win. That quiet confidence, that nose for the right moment, has never left him, or diminished even 20 years on.
From Dromahane to Dubai
Born in Dromahane, County Cork, O'Shea didn't come from a racing family. He was one of those kids with a dream and the work ethic to chase it. RACE (Racing Academy and Centre of Education), Ireland's national training and education centre for the racing industry, located in Kildare Town, sharpened his instincts, and by 2001, he'd earned the title of champion apprentice in Ireland. That same year, the UAE came calling.
It was the late Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, former Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, who offered him the breakthrough that changed everything when he offered him an opportunity to ride in the UAE during the Winter. That opportunity gave him not only a platform but a foundation. What followed was a career defined not just by success, but by staying power. O'Shea still speaks about Sheikh Hamdan with heartfelt gratitude and reverence.
A Rider of the People, O'Shea's partnerships with top UAE trainers like Kiaran McLaughlin, Erwan Charpy, and now Bhupat Seemar and Ernst Oertel, have produced some of the country's most memorable performances.
But for all the victories -over 1,160 and counting - it's his consistency and loyalty that has made him a mainstay of the UAE racing community.
Over the years UAE's die-hard racing community has watched O'Shea walk into saddling enclosures, whether it's a Friday afternoon at Jebel Ali or a packed Group 1 card at Meydan, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah or Al Ain, with the same calm presence. He's approachable and grounded. His success hasn't distanced him from the sport's core. If anything, it's brought him closer to it.
Always Chasing Excellence
Despite being a 12-time champion, O'Shea isn't one to be caught up in milestones. "I don't set targets," he often says. "I just want to do right by the horses and the people I ride for."
But the numbers speak for themselves - dozens of Group victories, a landmark win on Mizzna in the 2008 Dubai Kahayla Classic, and a history-making tally that's unlikely to be touched for years to come.
His 2022 win against Switzerland in the Dubai Golden Shaheen was one of the most fitting moments in a career built on persistence. A Group 1 triumph for a rider who had spent so many years proving he belonged at the top level with thoroughbreds, not just Arabians.
The Man Beyond the Saddle
Off the track, O'Shea is as real as they come. A family man through and through, he often credits his wife, Debbie, and their sons, Darragh and Aaron, as the pillars behind his longevity. After the loss of his mother Ann, the sport became even more emotional for him—every ride, every win, now carried her memory.
'She never missed a race,' he once told me. 'And now, I believe she still watches, just from a bit higher up.'
Still Hungry, Still Here
At 43, many jockeys would be winding down. Not O'Shea. His hunger hasn't dulled—it's sharpened. He's fitter than ever, riding with the same fire he had in his twenties, but now with the wisdom of experience.
What makes O'Shea different isn't just what he's won - it's what he's built. A legacy. A benchmark for what it means to be a professional in UAE racing. And a reputation that has endured across years, surfaces, and generations of horses and riders.
The Irish rider hasn't just make a career in the Emirates - he has defined what that career could look like.
And as the UAE continues to elevate its racing scene, it's hard to imagine it without the ever-smiling presence of Tadhg O'Shea.