Jason Charles Weaver was born in Nottingham on 9 February 1972, and was raised in Portskewett, South Wales. His father, Eric Weaver, was a professional footballer who played for clubs including Notts County and Swindon Town. Despite this, his first sporting love was rugby rather than racing — he fell in love with horses after buying his first pony for £32.

He began his racing career with trainer Luca Cumani, winning the Champion Apprentice title with 60 winners before riding 200 winners the following season as a professional. He became Champion Apprentice in 1994, the same year he partnered Mister Baileys to victory in the 2,000 Guineas, and went on to win the 1998 St Leger aboard Silver Patriarch, riding more than 1,000 winners over a 14-year career.

He retired as a jockey in 2002 at age 30, citing difficulty keeping his weight down, though he made a brief one-race comeback in 2006, winning the Ladbrokes Shergar Cup Duel at Ascot.

After impressing on the Racing Channel, he moved to At The Races in the early 2000s and became a mainstay of the channel now known as Sky Sports Racing, acting as a lead presenter and pundit and co-hosting the popular “Get In” show with Luke Harvey. He was announced as part of the ITV Racing line-up when the sport returned to the channel in 2017, becoming a permanent fixture of that team too.

Away from the racetrack, he spends time with his wife, Fiona, and two sons, Max and Tyler, and has described his family as “a family of golfers.