Born in Newtownhamilton, County Armagh, Northern Ireland on June 27, 1985, Brian Hughes graduated from the Racing Academy and Centre of Education (RACE) in County Kildare and rode his first winner on the Flat, as a 7lb claimer, aboard Perugino Lady, trained by Kevin Prendergast, in an apprentice handicap at Downpatrick on October 9, 2002. However, in 2005, Hughes moved to England to pursue a career as a National Hunt jockey, initially with Howard Johnson in County Durham. He rode his first winner on British soil, Bob Justice, trained by Johnson, in a handicap hurdle at Wetherby on December 3, 2005 but, after a promising start, struggled for winners when Paddy Brennan succeeded Graham Lee as stable jockey.
Nevertheless, Hughes persevered in the North of England, forgoing an opportunity to join Nigel Twiston-Davies in Naunton, Gloucestershire. His career took off again in 2007/08 when, under the auspices of the late Alan Swinbank, he became Champion Conditional Jockey with 39 winners. Nowadays based in Carlton-in-Cleveland, North Yorkshire, Hughes has essentially gone from strength-to-strength ever since. He rode over 100 winners in a season for the first time in 2014/15, by which time he had already ridden the first Cheltenham Festival winner, Hawk High, trained by Tim Easterby, in the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle in March 2014.
Hughes rode over 100 winners again in each of the next three seasons and, in May 2018, was announced as first-choice jockey to Donald McCain in Cholmondeley, Cheshire. He has continued to ply his trade, with no little success., mainly on the northern circuit, ever since and regularly rides out, schools and takes rides not just for McCain, but also for various other trainers.
On January 4, 2019, Hughes reached the landmark of 1,000 career winners on My Old Gold, trained by Nicky Richards, in a novices’ handicap chase at Wetherby. The following season, 2019/20 – which finished in March because of the coronavirus pandemic – he became British Champion Jump Jockey for the first time with 141 winners, 19 ahead of his nearest rival, four-time champion Richard Johnson. Thus, he became the first jockey based in the North of England to be crowned champion since Jonjo O’Neill in 1980.
Hughes was British Champion Jump Jockey again in 2021/22, with 204 winners. On April 20, 2022, he reached the landmark of 200 winners in a single season on Dreams Of Home, trained by McCain, in a handicap chase at Perth. In so doing, he became just the fourth National Hunt jockey in history to achieve that feat, after Peter Scudamore, Tony McCoy and Richard Johnson. Hughes retained his title in 2022/23, with 165 winners.