Born in Sligo, Ireland on May 14, 1992, Derek Fox began pony racing as a child before obtaining an amateur jockey licence, as a 16-year-old, and progressing to riding in point-to-points. He rode his first winner under Rules, Mighty Whitey, trained by Noel Kelly, in a ‘bumper’ at Sligo on May 19, 2010. He subsequently became conditional jockey to Charles Byrnes in Ballygarry, Limerick, but after a year returned to Sligo, where he became best known for his association with Charlie’s Vic, trained by Kelly. All told, he won four races on the Old Vic mare, including the Grade 3 Dawn Run Mares’ Novice Chase at Limerick on March 17, 2013.
The following October, while still claiming 5lb, Fox crossed the Irish Sea to join his cousin, Stephen, at the yard of Lucinda Russell in Milnathort, Kinross, Scotland. He rode a winner on his first ride for the yard, The Friary, in a novices’ handicap chase at Hexham on November 8, 2013 and finished the 2013/14 season with 12 winners on British soil. In 2015/16, he rode 26 winners, finishing second in the conditional jockeys’ championship and riding out his claim in the process. Peter Buchanan, who had been stable jockey to Russell for 13 years, retired at the end of that season and Fox was promoted to the number one spot.
As a fully-fledged professional, Fox is best known for winning the Grand National twice, on One For Arthur in 2017 and Corach Rambler in 2023, both saddled by Russell. He also has two Grade 1 victories to his name, the Sefton Novices’ Hurdle on April 9, 2021 and the Mildmay Novices Chase on April 8, 2022, both at Aintree and both on Ahoy Senor, again trained by Russell. Fox has also suffered his fair share of serious injuries, breaking his wrist and collarbone in a fall at Carlisle just a month before his 2017 Grand National victory and his first lumbar vertebra, collarbone and rib in another at Sedgefield in March 2025, leading to six months on the sidelines.