Born on November 6, 1979 and raised in Oxfordshire, James Owen enjoyed a successful career as an amateur jockey, pre-trainer and Arab horse trainer before turning his hand to training under Rules. Formerly nine-time East Anglian champion point-to-point jockey, Owen established James Owen Racing, as a pre-training business, at Green Ridge Stables in Newmarket in 2014. However, in early 2023, in an effort to boost his numbers, he took out a licence to train under National Hunt and Flat Rules.
As a licensed trainer, Owen saddled his first winner, Father Of Jazz, in a novices’ hurdle at Kempton on May 1, 2023, the opening day of the 2023/24 National Hunt season. That season, as a whole, yielded 38 winners, including Burdett Road in the Grade 2 Prestbury Juvenile Hurdle at Cheltenham, and Owen increased his seasonal tally to 60 winners in 2024/25 and, again, to 83 winners in 2025/26. Under National Hunt Rules, his biggest payday, so far, came courtesy of Burdett Road, again, in the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle at Newbury in November 2024.
On the Flat, Owen saddled 63 winners in 2024 and 117 winners in 2025. His best Flat horse so far, the Kameko colt Wimbledon Hawkeye, provided him with memorable victories in the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket in September 2024 and the Grade 3 Nashville Derby Invitational Stakes at Kentucky Downs in August 2025; the latter represented far and away his biggest payday so far.
On June 17, 2026, Owen recorded his maiden Royal Ascot winner, after 19 previously unsuccessful attempts, courtesy of Rogue Diplomat, ridden by Harry Davies, in the Royal Hunt Cup. Having seen the aforementioned Wimbledon Hawkeye narrowly beaten in the Wolferton Stakes the previous day, the trainer said of his landmark victory, “We’ve been knocking on the door, and to get our first Royal Ascot winner is unbelievable. I’ve got a great team, this is what we want and we’ve got it. We’ll keep going now.”
