Niven aims for a Flying High exit
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Your support makes all the difference.Peter Niven will bring his riding career to a conclusion at Perth today and will have his final ride on Flying High in the Isle Of Skye Handicap Chase.
Explaining the reason behind the jockey's decision, Niven's agent, Gordon McDonald, said: "He's 37 now and the rides are drying up from Mrs Reveley and he's been setting himself up as a trainer over the last few months. He'll take out a trainer's licence in a month or two at his place near Malton. There's nobody stronger – not the tidiest he would admit, but the most effective, I would say."
Niven has ridden 1,002 winners and joined an elite band of jump jockeys when reaching 1,000 wins at Wetherby in May. He trails only Richard Dunwoody, Peter Scudamore, Tony McCoy, John Francome and Stan Mellor on the all-time list.
The Scot's first winner came in 1984 but it was only after joining Mary Reveley as an amateur rider/pupil assistant the following year that his career took off and the pair have developed into the North's most prolific jumps trainer/jockey team over the last two decades.
Niven improved his total in each of his first eight seasons in the yard, culminating in a personal best of 108 in 1992/93. He is the only man to reach 1,000 winners without landing a jockeys' championship but does hold a record with four career five-timers.
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