DOB: 22.06.1959 Main trainer: Aidan O'Brien Royal Ascot wins: 30

As stable jockey to prolific Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien, Mick Kinane has one of racing's most enviable jobs.

Tipperary-born Kinane and O'Brien teamed up for a notable Oaks-Derby double at Epsom in 2001 with Imagine and Galileo.

Galileo also landed the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot and the Irish Derby.

Kinane even appealed to the Irish High Court to get a riding ban postponed so he could be on board the colt in the Ascot race.

Kinane also scored another first of himself, landing the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Johannesburg.

The rider's partnership with O'Brien first took an English Classic in 1998 when King of Kings won the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket.

But the jockey had long been successful in big races, winning the 1989 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on Carroll House and the Epsom Derby in 1993 with Commander in Chief.

He enjoyed a golden run at Royal Ascot in the mid-1990s when he was top jockey at the meeting for three years in succession - from 1994-1996.

Although O'Brien's horses seem to have picked up from where they left off last season, Kinane has endured some big-race frustration.

He was suspended when Rock of Gibraltar won the 2,000 Guineas and then chose to ride Hawk Wing in the Derby - but came second to stablemate High Chaparral.

But Kinane was back in the groove when Rock of Gibraltar clocked up his fifth straight Group One win by claiming the St James' Palace Stakes on Royal Ascot's opening day.