Paul Townend has enjoyed a remarkable season in the saddle, having won four of the biggest races in jump racing with estimated earnings of £385,000 for the Irish jockey
Paul Townend has had another season to remember(Image: Getty Images)
Paul Townend treated himself to a brand new Porsche after winning the Grand National, the Gold Cup and the Champion Hurdle for the first time in 2024 – and now it appears he could well afford a second one.
Last Saturday’s breathtaking Grand National triumph at Aintree aboard I Am Maximus saw the Cork jockey complete Jump Racing’s Holy Trinity in the same season for the second time in his career. “I bought the Porsche because growing up I loved speed, I love racing cars,” said Townend in an interview last September.
“I’m very fortunate because I have been successful. I own my dream house. I decided when I won the Grand National and I won the Gold Cup, and the Champion Hurdle, I just said let’s get it now while I can and enjoy it.”
READ MORE: Grand National meeting winner disqualified after jockey used whip 11 times in finishREAD MORE: Grand National punter bags just shy of £1MILLION after I Am Maximus wins Aintree race
He has indeed swept all four of National Hunt racing’s most prestigious prizes this season, with his Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle victories aboard Lossiemouth and Gaelic Warrior framed either side by a Queen Mother Champion Chase win on Il Etait Temps. With the £2.6 million Punchestown festival just around the corner, Townend looks set to savour his greatest ever campaign, but just how much has the 35-year-old earned for himself in 2025/26?
We’ve crunched the numbers on Townend’s dazzling year in the saddle and believe he is on track to surpass his earnings from the 2024/25 season, despite Willie Mullins surrendering his champion trainer’s crown in Britain to Dan Skelton. We have used the standard calculation that a jockey typically receives roughly nine per cent of winning prize money and around four per cent of placed prize money they earn.
I Am Maximus ridden by Paul Townend, after winning the Randox Grand National (Image: Owen Humphreys/PA)
The riding fee for a senior jump jockey in Ireland stands at €282 while in Britain it is £228, and with Townend having competed in 295 races, his basic fee before any winnings amounts to a gross figure of approximately £65,203 at home and £7,300 in the UK.
He will have the typical travel, valet, agent and insurance expenses to deduct from that sum, but it is in the prize money where Townend has struck gold. Townend has banked roughly £166,920 for himself from his season to date in Ireland between riding fees and his share of prize money from his 264 rides and 84 winners.
In Britain this season, Townend has only notched eight winners, but with four of them being the big four in jump racing, the total prize money he has earned for connections exceeds £2 million and is nearly identical to what he has won at home. Approximately £168,000 (€193k) of that (alongside riding fees) goes into the Middleton man’s pocket, meaning his estimated gross total earnings for the season thus far in Ireland and the UK stand at a remarkable £385,000.
Jockey Paul Townend on I Am Maximus
Throughout the entire 2024/25 season he pocketed just over £434,687, meaning a strong Punchestown festival alongside Willie Mullins could see Townend eclipse that figure and push his earnings comfortably past the €1 million mark across the last two seasons combined. He is currently riding at an impressive 31 per cent strike rate in Ireland and 26 per cent in Britain.
However, landing an eighth Irish champion jockeys title looks unlikely, with Jack Kennedy currently holding a commanding 15-winner advantage over his fierce rival with just a fortnight of the season left to run.
That said, given the remarkable form Townend has been producing and with the formidable Willie Mullins string behind him across all five days at Punchestown, it would be unwise to rule it out entirely.