Silvestre de Sousa

Silvestre de Sousa (born 31 December 1980 in São Francisco do Maranhão, Brazil) is a Brazilian flat racing jockey who is based in Britain and was three times champion jockey (2015, 2017, 2018).

Background and early career De Sousa was born in São Francisco do Maranhão, Maranhão, the youngest of ten siblings. He moved to São Paulo when he was 17 years old and sat on a racehorse for the first time when he was 18. This came after a chance meeting with a man who worked at the local Cidade Jardim racecourse, who introduced him to Fausto Durso (one of the leading jockeys in São Paulo at the time, later twice champion jockey in Macau). Durso suggested that de Sousa had the build of a jockey. In an interview with the magazine Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder, de Sousa remembered an inauspicious beginning to his career. “I started very badly…it took me six months to get my first ride, but 16 months later I was champion apprentice and had lost my claim.”

Mark Johnston With Nicholls using his son Adrian as first jockey, de Sousa decided to freelance. After winning 21, 35 and 68 races in 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively, he reached his maiden century of winners in 2010 and attracted the attention of northern trainer Mark Johnston. In a 2011 BBC interview Johnston said, "I noticed him last season when he rode 100 winners for mainly small trainers, often on horses at long odds".

With support from the Mark Johnston yard, de Sousa made a good start in 2011. After initially being excluded from some bookmakers’ lists for the flat-jockeys’ championship, with monthly totals of 24, 20 and 27 winners in May, June and July respectively he was heading the title race.

The 2010 champion jockey Paul Hanagan regained the lead by September; having incurred a four-day suspension in early October, de Sousa's chances of a first title were fading. He continued to focus on his championship challenge with 32 winners in October; however, Mark Johnston's decision to put de Sousa on Fox Hunt in Australia's Melbourne Cup was another blow to his title bid. Explaining the logic behind his decision to send de Sousa to Melbourne to ride the Duke Of Edinburgh winner, Johnston said “He (de Sousa) would rather win four races at Wolverhampton and be called champion jockey than have to come out here. But I hope that if he wins the Melbourne Cup then he'll realize that's much bigger than being champion jockey”.

He was again runner-up (to Richard Hughes) in 2012, and third behind Hughes in 2013.

Godolphin

From 2012 to 2015 de Sousa was retained as a jockey by Godolphin. He won his first Group 1 on Hunter's Light in the 2012 Premio Roma and landed further Group 1 success with Sajjhaa in the 2013 Dubai Duty Free Stakes, Farhh in the 2013 Lockinge and Champion Stakes and African Story in the 2014 Dubai World Cup. He rode his 200th winner of the year at Lingfield on 18 October, and with 155 wins in the Championship period, he effectively won the title with weeks to spare. He identified the highlights of his year as the day he rode six winners - five at Sandown and one at Goodwood - and his Cesarewitch Handicap win on Withhold.

Hong Kong After three seasons riding for King Power Racing, de Sousa was released from his contract and spent the 2022 season riding as a freelance. Having found it difficult to re-establish himself as a freelance, de Sousa moved to Hong Kong for the start of the season in September 2022. During the winter he rode 45 winners and was in fifth place in the jockeys' standings, with his mounts earning £7.7 million in prize money.

Return to Britain After serving his ban, de Sousa returned to Britain in March 2024, riding as a freelance. On 3 May 2024 he achieved his first success in a Classic race when he rode Elmalka, trained by Roger Varian to victory in the 1000 Guineaa. This was followed later the same month by a second Classic victory when he rode Devil's Point in the Grade 2 German 2,000 Guineas.

Major wins Great Britain 1000 Guineas - (1) - Elmalka (2024) British Champions Sprint Stakes - (1) - Donjuan Triumphant (2019) International Stakes - (1) - Arabian Queen (2015) Champion Stakes - (1) - Farhh (2013) Lockinge Stakes - (1) - Farhh (2013) Nunthorpe Stakes - (1) - Winter Power (2021) Queen Anne Stakes - (1) - Charyn (2024) Queen Elizabeth II Stakes - (1) - Charyn (2024)

France Prix Jacques Le Marois - (1) - Charyn (2024) Prix Morny - (1) - Pretty Pollyanna (2018)

Hong Kong Hong Kong Cup - (1) - Glorious Forever (2018)

Hungary Kincsem Dij (Local Group 1) – (1) – Claymore (2025)

Italy Premio Roma – (1) – Hunter's Light (2012)

United Arab Emirates Dubai Turf - (1) - Sajjhaa (2013) Dubai World Cup - (1) - African Story (2014) Al Maktoum Challenge, Round 3 - (1) - Hunter's Light (2013)