[1] Nicknamed the "Choirboy", he rode his first winner, Paddy's Luck, on 12 July 1978 at Kempton Park but gained considerable fame for riding the superstar Shergar to victory in The Derby in 1981 by a record 10 lengths.

In 1996 he rode Pilsudski to victory in the Breeders' Cup Turf at Woodbine Racetrack and the Grosser Preis von Baden at Iffezheim Racecourse in Baden-Baden, Germany.

Swinburn spent four days in a coma after a fall in 1996, which was thought to have caused him to develop epilepsy, and he retired from racing in 2000.

[5] His family home was Stocks House at Aldbury, a golf spa hotel and resort purchased by Harris in 2004 and converted for domestic use.

[8] An inquest in January 2017 heard that Swinburn had fallen from a bathroom window, and the coroner ruled his death an accident.