Michael ‘Micky’ Bowen is the eldest son of Peter Bowen, the now-retired patriarch of a famous Welsh dynasty, which also includes leading National Hunt jockeys Sean and James Bowen. Formerly a point-to-point jockey and trainer, Mickey Bowen shared a training licence with his father for the 2024/25 National Hunt season before taking over at the family yard at Yet-Y-Rhug, near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire in time for the start of the 2025/2026 campaign. Indeed, he saddled his first winner as the sole licence holder, Gavin, ridden by his younger brother Sean, in a handicap hurdle at Ffos Las on May 6, 2025.
At that stage, Bowen said, “We had 45 winners last year, me and dad, so if we got to 50 this year it would be great. We’ll just keep trying to train more winners and go from there.” In fact, his inaugural season at the helm yielded 51 winners from 325 runners, at a strike rate of 16%, and just shy of £593,000 in prize money. He tried, and failed, to add his name to the roll of honour for the Summer Plate at Market Rasen, which his father won eight times between 1997 and 2022; the pick of his challengers, Courtland, ridden by 5lb claimer Shane Fenelon, held a clear lead three out, but weakened in the closing stages to finish second, beaten five lengths.
Nevertheless, Mickey Bowen remains a trainer to keep an eye on at the Lincolnshire venue, where he has saddled eight winners from 32 runners so far, at a strike rate of 25%. Of the other National Hunt courses where he has saddled 10 or more runners, his highest strike rates have come at Hexham (36%), Kelso, Newton Abbott and Perth (all 30%). Sean Bowen has a 26% strike rate for the yard since his older brother took over.
