William Kennedy enjoyed a 25 year long career as a Jump jockey with more than 450 winners and was already under way with his coaching qualifications when he decided to stop riding in 2023 aged 41. Initially he wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted to do after riding so when a Regional Jockey Coach role for the Midlands area came up in March 2024, he decided to grab the opportunity and complete his coaching qualifications and now works full time providing coaching support to 27 jockeys.  He also runs drop in sessions at Warwick Racecourse and Oaksey House and assists with the deliver of assessments on the Jockeys Licence course.

What drew you to your role as a Regional Jockey Coach?

Through my experiences of being a jockey and building a support team around me, I felt I had a good understanding of what jockeys need both on and off the track, physically and mentally. I knew being a full time coach would give me the structure I needed in my life after riding and means that I’m always available and can give my jockeys a high level of support. Now I get a real kick on working together with jockeys to make improvements and it’s always satisfying when they see it’s working and they start to reap the rewards of the work they’re putting in.

How has your coaching style evolved?

I have taken part in a few CPD days for coaches which has been useful and I’ve seen how coaches work in other areas and with different ages. I have also changed the way I approach jockeys. Before I think I always felt I knew the optimum technique to get the best out of a horse but it’s a bit like golf in that everybody’s got a different swing, jockeys have different ways of riding and they need to have individuality otherwise it doesn’t flow so I feel I’m better now at moulding the skills of each rider to develop their own style whilst also making sure we’re still working on the fundamentals that jockeys need to get the best out of the horse.

What are the main challenges of the role?

There is a lot of admin, which I’ve never had to do before, every contact I have a with a rider is logged and I have to upload all the videos. It’s not hard, it’s just different. The other thing is that it can be frustrating not necessarily being able to help jockeys who are working really hard but aren’t getting many opportunities. You need to be ready to be a sounding board and if you’re not, you quickly find out. I think it’s something I’m quite good at, I’ve had lots of ups and downs so I have a lot of empathy.

What advice do you give jockeys about using the support network?

I always made sure I had a good network around me when I was riding but I had to pay for it and now they have it there for free so I encourage them to use as much as they can. I really try and hammer home to jockeys to use JETS. I didn’t prepare myself well enough for retirement, there was still a stigma there that people think you’re going to stop riding if you use JETS but that’s a ridiculous thing to think. There are so many brilliant courses which equip you with useful skills for anything in life which you can do at any time not just when you’re thinking about stopping riding, it’s just when you have time, maybe you’re injured or suspended. You might only be half way through your working life when you stop riding so you need to get ahead.

How easy has your transition away from riding been?

I miss the weighing room and being competitive and what I thought was working was actually living the dream. I have a lot to be grateful for but there’s a huge hole which I’m not sure will ever be filled but it’s only been 18 months and people say it takes a good three years to fully adjust so I’m giving it time. I also try and remember that I don’t miss the last eighteen months of my career which were not good, I miss my life from five years ago so it’s about keeping busy and having a focus which this job definitely gives me.

How would you like to progress your career from here?

I would like to add another string to my bow and get a Strength & Conditioning qualification so I’ll have to do a Personal Training qualification first. Fitness is absolutely vital for jockeys and I think it would be really useful for my coaching.