Three-time Champion Jockey Silvestre de Sousa has hit 2,000 career wins, joining the likes of Ryan Moore and William Buick to become one of Great Britain’s most decorated flat jockeys.
The 45-year-old jockey reached this milestone aboard the Martin Dunne trained Neyva's Angel at Yarmouth in the 15:20 handicap on Thursday afternoon.
De Sousa has had an incredibly successful career, growing from strength to strength, and has been Champion Jockey three times. He won some of Great Britain’s most prestigious races including the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and Queen Anne Stakes, both at Ascot, and the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket.
The Brazilian-born jockey has won over £30 million in prize money over the course of his career, which began in Great Britain in 2006. De Sousa now spends a lot of his time riding out in Dubai and is a two-time winner of the UAE Champion Jockey.
His first British Group 1 victory was aboard Farhh in the Lockinge Stakes in 2013 at Newbury. He is currently freelance but has enjoyed stints for Godolphin and trainer Rodger Varian for whom he won the Queen Elizabeth II stakes aboard Charyn in 2024.
De Sousa is the latest to join the elite group of five jockeys to have already hit this milestone. This includes Ryan Moore, Jim Crowley, Luke Morris, Jamie Spencer and William Buick. The next closest flat jockey to hit this milestone is the current Champion Jockey, Oisin Murphy.
On hitting 2,000 winners, De Sousa said: “I am incredibly proud to have reached this milestone in my career, after over 20 years as a professional jockey with so many amazing achievements, this is another great thing to have. I would like to thank everyone who made this possible for me.
"I was just a boy from Brazil, and to have this many winners in Great Britain is just a dream come true. England is my home now, and to do this here is so amazing, I am so lucky to have achieved such success. Now being freelance, I get to ride a lot of different horses for different trainers all over Great Britain. I look forward to all the opportunities still to come."
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