Hanagan and Hughes have played out a gripping finish to the season

By Oliver Brett

One of British sport's toughest annual challenges, which this year began on 27 March and will be decided on Saturday, is heading for one of its most thrilling climaxes.

The two men challenging for the crown have been on the go from dawn to dusk and beyond, racking up huge distances on a near-daily basis for the last few weeks - and yet there is no prize money on offer and no trophy.

For the first time ever the competition was sponsored last year, but the online casino that put up some cash in 2009 has withdrawn its involvement this time. It might regret its decision, because this year the Flat Jockeys' Championship has produced an enthralling narrative.

In the northern corner is Liverpudlian Paul Hanagan, champion apprentice in 2002, a rare Englishman among an Irish-born majority of Flat jockeys, with around half his winners supplied by north Yorkshire-based trainer Richard Fahey.

Representing the southern-based jockeys is Dublin-born Richard Hughes, a familiar sight at the big race days at Newmarket and Ascot, a 37-year-old who stands 5ft 10in tall but whose dedication allows him to race off a minimum weight of 8st 6lb.

FLAT JOCKEYS' CHAMPIONSHIP Jockey | Winners | Rides Paul Hanagan | 186 | 1,073 Richard Hughes | 184 | 1,020 Ryan Moore | 137 | 772 Kieren Fallon | 130 | 773 Frankie Dettori | 123 | 541 Correct before racing on 4/11/10

Hughes trails by a cigarette-paper. With each man having raced more than 1,000 times this season, the Irishman is only two behind going into Thursday's cards and after steadily eating away at Hanagan's once impressive lead for several weeks he is very much the man with the momentum.

One man sensing the excitement is Kevin Darley, who in 2000 became only the second northern-based jockey since Elijah Wheatley in 1905 to land the prestigious title.

Darley, who retired in 2007, believes fatigue will be a big factor after such an exhausting season, but says both men will still deliver peak performances over the closing few rides.

Now co-president of the Professional Jockeys' Association, Darley told BBC Sport: "The horse does the majority of the work, but when you take into account that the guy on top is driving half a tonne of horse flesh as fast as he can, while keeping straight and balanced, that takes a lot of skill.

"People who don't know a lot about the sport might not appreciate how fit jockeys are. They are now looked upon by people in other sports as natural athletes.

"There will be tiredness, but when they get on the horse the riding part of it is second nature to them. What's difficult for a jockey is travelling to and fro across the 60 racecourses across the country. I can't imagine how many miles they have clocked up."

On Wednesday, Hughes had six bookings at Nottingham before a planned helicopter ride to Kempton for another half-dozen rides.

But bad weather meant the helicopter trip had to be called off and he headed off by road for the 140-mile journey, only for the traffic to force him to abandon altogether.

Given that he only makes £105 from each ride, plus a small percentage of any winnings on offer, it's an indication of the determination of a man who has been knocking on the door to win the jockeys' championship without quite being able to get there. He was runner-up to Ryan Moore in each of the past two seasons.

Kevin Darley in his final season

Hanagan, meanwhile, is giving all his riding fees and winnings for the final fortnight to charity - it's a gesture of remarkable generosity from someone who still has to make sure he has enough cash in his bank account to pay the bills.

Darley is quick to pick up on the unglamorous reality of race-riding.

"Everybody looks at our sport from the outside and thinks every jockey out there is like Frankie Dettori and AP McCoy, but only a very few live a privileged lifestyle like they do.

"For the rest it's a means of earning a living, and all the days of riding out in the pouring rain and freezing cold are forgotten when you get a horse past the winning-post in front. It's a feeling that surpasses anything else."

This year's excitement is not unique. In 2007, Seb Sanders and Jamie Spencer dead-heated for the title with 190 winners apiece. But the arrival of a new northern jockey on the scene does lend a certain frisson.

Darley points out: "What's a little bit more difficult for Paul now is the opportunities in the last few weeks of the season do dry up in the north. There is no doubt there is a bit of a north and south divide but whoever you are you are going to have to ride winners here, there and everywhere to land the title.

"What we must not lose sight of is the importance of Richard Fahey for Paul. Richard has competed with the best of them and has horses of great quality in his stable."

Saturday is not only the final day of the season in Britain, but the climactic day of the Breeders' Cup meeting in Kentucky in the United States, where Hughes is due to have an engagement on top miler Paco Boy, trained by Hughes's father-in-law Richard Hannon.

606: DEBATE I tried to get a small bet on Hughes last week when he was behind by 10. I was told that as they had paid out on Hanagan the jockeys championship was over mike horne

It had been thought Hughes would miss Friday because of the nine-meeting weekly limit imposed on all jockeys. But he will now hope for a spare ride or three at Southwell (afternoon) or Wolverhampton (evening).

Darley said: "We should know on Thursday whether he will go to America and then we will know where his priorities lie. To ride a Breeders' Cup winner is a big thing. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes to make that decision.

"I only got the opportunity to ride out there once, and two days before it was going to happen it didn't because my horse, River North, went lame. It is seen as the stage to ride a big winner."

It's been a good year for jockeys making an impact across sporting boundaries in general.

McCoy, champion jumps jockey every year since 1995-96, is the hot favourite to win December's BBC Sports Personality award after breaking his Grand National duck in April.

Darley said: "It would be great for racing if he won it. The guy is a great ambassador for our sport. Where do you have in any other sport, on any given day in the middle of the week, an opportunity to watch a champion go about his business and compete?

"And yet, with McCoy, you can turn up at Exeter or Taunton on a Tuesday afternoon and watch him in action. His dedication sums up the genuine hunger to ride winners that drives on all of the jockeys."

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