‘Fanna’ reloaded
Jamaica’s winningest jockey saddles first winner as trainer
NINE years after he rode his last winner, Winston “Fanna” Griffiths was back in the winners’ enclosure at Caymanas Park on Sunday, September 20, 2026. This time he didn’t ride in; he walked in.
Griffiths, 70, Jamaica’s winningest jockey with 1,663 career wins, saddled his first winner as a licensed trainer when Alaeddin captured the second race on the day.
It was a $750,000 Maiden Special Weight for four-year-olds and up over four furlongs (800m), the kind of race that barely makes the programme.
But for Griffiths, it meant everything.
“It’s great. It’s a good feeling. It’s just that you’re in a different section of the game, but I’m still in the game. It’s different from the riding. But my first win as a trainer, it’s a good feeling,” Griffiths said.
Alaeddin (Carlos Blake) gives Winston ‘Fanna’ Griffiths his first winner as a trainer on Sunday, September 20, 2026. (Photo: Karl Mclarty)
Alaeddin, the 1-2 favourite racing from post one with Carlos Blake atop, broke sharply, eventually clocking 50.0 seconds for the distance, winning by one and three-quarter lengths over Hoofy Dee (Dane McKenzie), while Time And Patience (Joy Haynes) was third.
It was Griffiths’ and Alaeddin’s first win in nine starts, inclusive of three second-place finishes.
Asked if he ever doubted it would happen, Griffiths revealed his typical patience.
“No, not at all. I’m always the type of person who knows that time will tell, and I think today was the time,” Griffiths stated.
Winston ‘Fanna’ Griffiths (left) interacts with fans after saddling his first winner as a trainer with Alaeddin on Sunday, September 20, 2026. (Photo: Karl Mclarty)
“Alaeddin has some issues and we could not get to do what we want to do. So, we have to be petting him the whole way, and luckily today he was on top of himself and he really produced what we expect from him,” he added.
Griffiths stopped riding in 2015, but he didn’t leave the game. At 68, he went back to school and graduated from the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC) Trainers Programme in May 2023.
He is no ordinary jockey-turned-trainer. He is a five-time champion (1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1995), winner of 11 Derbies and over 40 Classics.
In 1992, with trainer Philip Feanny, he did what no jockey-trainer combination had ever done: Swept all five Classics with Milligram and Classique to enter the Guinness World Records.
At present, Griffiths shared that he has two horses under his care.
