Michael Kinane

Kinane has been riding winners since he was 15

Date of birth: 22/6/59
Main trainer: Aidan O'Brien
Total Royal Ascot wins: 25
Royal Ascot 2000 wins: 2

There is a plum job if you are an Irish Flat jockey - and Mick Kinane has it.

He is retained by Aidan O'Brien, the master of a hugely successful training operation at Ballydoyle in the south of Ireland.

Kinane's partnership with O'Brien, who also trains the triple champion hurdler Istabraq, took an English Classic in 1998 when King of Kings won the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket.

The triumph confirmed what most of the racing world knew already, that Tipperary-born Kinane was a man for the big occasion.

He won the 1989 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on Carroll House and took the Epsom Derby in 1993 with Commander in Chief.

Kinane also flew the flag for Europe when he rode Vintage Crop to victory in the 1993 Melbourne Cup.

With his first success at the tender age of 15, Kinane has now been riding winners for more than 25 years.

And he has just had probably the best racing weekend of his life, securing an Oaks-Derby double for O'Brien on Imagine and Galileo.

Kinane enjoyed a memorable Royal Ascot meeting last year, with victories on Giant's Causeway (St James' Palace Stakes) and Kayf Tara (Gold Cup).