JJ Slevin

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JJ Slevin (born July 1992) is an Irish National Hunt jockey from Enniscorthy, County Wexford. He has ridden multiple Grade 1 winners and two Irish Grand National winners. In January 2025 he was named retained rider to owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede. As of 4 January 2025, he had 291 career wins.

Background
Slevin grew up in Kiltrea near Enniscorthy in a racing family. His father, Shay Slevin, is a trainer, and his mother Elizabeth is the sister of trainer Aidan O’Brien. He studied journalism at Griffith College Dublin, and his brother Mark trained as a vet. He rode for several years as an amateur, winning 34 point-to-points, the first being Herecomestherain at Ballydarragh in November 2010. His first winner under rules was Chapel Garden at Thurles in December 2013. As an amateur he secured 11 wins, including a Grade 3 on Moylisha Tim in the Cork E.B.F. Novice Hurdle (November 2015), and two victories for Nigel Twiston-Davies in Britain.

Professional career
Slevin turned professional in August 2016 and finished joint first in a dead-heat in his first race as a conditional jockey at Roscommon. He claimed his first Cheltenham Festival win in March 2017 on Champagne Classic for Gordon Elliott in the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle. His first Grade 1 came in February 2018 on Tower Bridge in the Golden Cygnet Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown, riding for his cousin Joseph Patrick O’Brien. He won his first Irish Grand National in April 2018 aboard General Principle, a 20/1 winner for Elliott. Six years later he won the race again on Intense Raffles, a grey trained by Thomas Gibney and owned by Munir and Souede.

Other major wins include Fastorslow, who won the Punchestown Gold Cup in 2023 and 2024, and the 2023 John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase. He also rode Banbridge and Home By The Lee to Grade 1 victories for trainer Aidan O’Brien.

Retained jockey and recent success
Following the retirement of Daryl Jacob on 29 December 2024, Slevin was offered a retained-jockey role in Great Britain and Ireland for Munir and Souede. That weekend he won two Grade 1s at Leopardstown’s Christmas festival: the Paddy’s Reward Club Chase on Solness and the Savills Hurdle on Home By The Lee, whom he had previously won with in 2022. On 2 January 2025, his first day in the new role, he rode Al Kalila and O’Toole to victory at Ayr for the Munir and Souede colors.