Opie Bosson

Owen Patrick Bosson, known as Opie, was born on 24 July 1980 and is a New Zealand Thoroughbred jockey, the son of the prominent amateur jockey Owen Bosson. He started as an apprentice to his godfather Stephen Autridge, rode his first race at fifteen in 1995, was apprentice of the year in 1997 and won his first Group 1, the Auckland Cup with Jezabeel, in 1998 at seventeen. In 2019 he passed Lance O'Sullivan as the rider of the most New Zealand Group 1 races, and in 2023 he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Thoroughbred racing. He rode his 2,000th New Zealand winner in December 2023, announced his retirement from race riding in December 2024 with 2,146 wins, then returned in 2025 and won his 100th Group 1 race in February 2026 on Legarto.