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By Enda McElhinney
He grew up on the family farm at Ballingarry in Co Limerick and racing has always been in his blood. Though he started off riding over jumps, with his mother having successfully trained point-to-point winners, Lee's focus was soon switched to the Flat.
He has gone on to become a Group 1-winning pilot on the level with lots of success in major Irish races and abroad.
Lee's first dabble in the public consciousness came in 1994 when he was in action at the Castletown Donkey Derby — finishing second! The clip famously resurfaced on YouTube in later years. The race was local to the young Lee, but sadly he never managed to win it."I'll never live that race down," he said years later. "I rode in it a few times after, but alas never managed to take home the top prize."
Lee started his journey with Tommy Stack on his school holidays aged 14. He had his first winner for the yard when Zeno won at Sligo in August 2002, though he insists he was a mere 'passenger'.
He looked to be a promising rider over hurdles back in the 2005/06 season, with the highlight coming on the Stack-trained Wanango in the Listed Gordon Plant Memorial Newton Novices' Hurdle at Haydock as the partnership won.
However, it wasn't long before Lee's sole focus was switched towards riding on the Flat.
Lee aligned himself closely to the yards of Stack — and later his son Fozzy — as well as Willie McCreery and David Marnane among others.
He had to wait for his first Group-race winner, which came when Pollen, trained by Tommy Stack, won the Group 3 Park Express Stakes at the Curragh in March 2010.
Following that success, his partnership with McCreery blossomed and he would go on to make a top-level breakthrough in tandem with the Kildare handler when Fiesolana won the Matron Stakes at the inaugural Irish Champions Weekend at Leopardstown in September 2014."That was the first Champions Weekend. She was very good and it was great to get a win on such a big weekend of racing," said the rider later.
Royal Ascot is one of the major stopping points for any jockey and Lee has made his mark on the Berkshire extravaganza.
His first win came on Roca Tumu for trainer Joanna Morgan in the Britannia Stakes in 2013.
He had to wait five years for the next, with Settle For Bay winning the cavalry charge that is the Royal Hunt Cup for trainer Marnane in 2018.
This year would prove his best to date at Royal Ascot, with Lee scoring on the Henry De Bromhead-trained Ascending in the Ascot Stakes and doubling up on Carmers for Twomey in the Queen's Vase.
Lee emerged as a challenger to Colin Keane for the Irish jockeys' championship in 2022. He rode 97 winners that season — his personal best tally — but was pipped at the post by Keane.
It was a hugely successful year, nonetheless, with seven Group-race wins on the board, including the Pretty Polly Stakes on La Petite Coco and the Matron Stakes on Pearls Galore – both Group 1s coming for trainer Twomey, the yard with which Lee has become so closely intertwined in recent years and enjoyed great success with.
