Born in Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland on December 1, 1985, Daniel Tudhope left school at 16 and, following careers guidance, attended, and graduated from, Northern Racing College (now the National Horseracing College) in Doncaster. He subsequently became apprenticed to Declan Carroll in Malton, North Yorkshire and rode his first ‘winner’ of any description, Doitupto You (with the assistance of the local stewards) at the Ippodromo San Rossore in Pisa, Italy in 2003. On February 29, 2004, Tudhope rode his first winner on British soil, Rust En Vrede, trained by Carroll, in a banded stakes race at Southwell.
Thanks in no small part to Carroll, Tudhope rode out his claim in two-and-a-half years. However, after a few years struggling as a freelance jockey, he took the advice of weighing room colleague Silvestre De Sousa to start riding out for then up-and-coming trainer David O’Meara, a move that he later described as “the start of it all for me”. In 2012, he became stable jockey to O’Meara after his predecessor, De Sousa, was offered a retainer by Godolphin.
In his new role, Tudhope reached the milestone of 100 winners in a calendar year in 2013, but it would not be until 2019 that he rode 100 winners in the set period, between May and October, on which the jockeys’ title is decided. He achieved his maiden century in that respect on World Title, trained by Archie Watson, in a nursery handicap at Ripon on August 27, 2019. At that point, Tudhope said, “It has been a fantastic year for me so far, and I will keep trying my hardest to achieve my dream of becoming Champion Jockey.” He went on to ride 159 winners in the year as a whole, including 133 in the title period, eventually finishing runner-up to Oisin Murphy in the Flat Jockeys’ Championship.
Nowadays, Willow Farm, near Upper Helmsley, North Yorkshire, where O’Meara has been based since 2016, is one of the strongest yards in the North of England. Nevertheless, Tudhope once said, “For a northern jockey, I think it’s harder. Most of the big meetings are down south. When northern jockeys go down south, it takes a while to adapt. Look at Ascot. It’s a difficult track to ride, especially when you’re up against the top jockeys.” Despite the challenges, Tudhope reached the landmark of 1,000 career winners on Ingelby Hollow, trained by O’Meara, in a handicap at Thirsk on June 3, 2019.