Born on December 15, 1994 in County Wicklow, Ireland, Ciaran Gethings owed his start in racing to local trainer Philip Rothwell, based in Tinahely, who bought him a pony on which to learn to ride as a 10-year-old and for whom he subsequently rode out regularly after school and during school holidays. Gethings left school at 15 and moved to Kildare, where he attended the Racing Academy and Centre of Education (RACE) and worked for Friarstown trainer Conor O’Dwyer.
On completion of his work placement, believing that he would find better opportunities on the opposite side of the Irish Sea, O’Dwyer contacted Somerset trainer Philip Hobbs on Gethings’ behalf. Gethings, 16, duly joined Hobbs as an amateur rider but, according to the ‘Racing Post’, did not take his first ride for Hobbs until March 22, 2013. He rode his first winner, Woodford County, in an amateur riders’ handicap chase at Newbury on November 27, 2014.
Gethings turned conditional specifically to ride War Sound, trained by Hobbs, in the valuable Swinton Hurdle at Haydock on May 9, 2015 and the six-year-old duly justified favouritism, giving his jockey a winner – not to mention a decent payday – on his first ride in his new role. He remained with Hobbs until the summer of 2017, but left to become conditional jockey to Tom George in Slad, Gloucestershire. Explaining his decision, Gethings said, “…my claim was down to 3lb and I thought it best to spread my wings a bit. I rode a winner at Perth for Tom and things just went from there. He holds my licence and things are going great.”
Shortly after winning the Welsh Grand National Trial at Chepstow on Wild West Wind, trained by George, on December 9, 2017, Gethings said, “… the aim now is now ride my claim out by the end of the season.” That he did, en route to a career-best 33 winners in 2017/18 as a whole.
Tom George aside, Gethings also formed a profitable association with Buckinghamshire trainer Stuart Edmunds, to who he became, for all practical purposes, stable jockey. All told, Gethings rode 114 winners for Edmunds, including the biggest winner of his career so far, Arizona Cardinal, in the Topham Chase at Aintree on April 12, 2024. However, the pair have since parted company, as Gethings explained, “Last season [2024/25] I had four months out through injury, and I probably lost a few rides. I got to February [2025], and I just wasn’t enjoying it at all, and that’s why I said to Stuart that I should go.”