MANY of you will have seen the video posted on social media during the week of myself and my two-year-old son riding a close finish.
With racing in Britain showing no signs of resuming, in the short term at least, we are all keeping our fitness levels up and watching our diets as normal.
It has been wonderful getting to spend more time at home with my family, although my wife jokes that if I don’t get out from under her feet very soon we will be divorced!
From a personal viewpoint, the cessation couldn’t have come at a worse point, as I was leading the All-Weather Jockeys Championship and was on the brink of setting a new record.
Luke Morris had ridden 102 winners one season on his way to the title, while I stood just one behind that total, with a full five weeks left in the campaign. While it was obviously heartbreaking to miss out on that little bit of history, my mind is now focused on the turf season once we eventually get the all clear to continue.
Grafts hard
From very early in my career, I have developed a reputation as a jockey who grafts hard and puts in the miles in order to ride winners; something I hope will stand to me in the coming months, should the prospect of winning the jockeys’ title become a possibility.
I more or less fell into racing more by accident than design. As a young child I had done some pony lessons with my dad but that was really the extent of it. When it came to finding some work experience in secondary school I wasn’t very organised and on the day I was due to submit my request I still had nothing sorted.
On the bus that morning, I got chatting to Conor Murphy, whose father trained near Innishannon, Co Cork. Conor, a nephew of John Joseph Murphy, agreed to phone his dad and my work experience was organised there and then! During my time in the yard, bloodstock agent Aidan Murphy [father of trainer Olly] saw me ride and suggested I go over to England to work with his wife, Annabel King, to gain a better education with horses.
Obviously, I was very keen to take up this offer but my parents took a lot more convincing. As I was only 15 at the time and still in school, it was a difficult job to convince them to allow me take such a leap. To their credit, they supported me wholeheartedly.
Progressed
After seven months with Annabel King, during which time I progressed enormously as a rider, I returned home to Ireland. I based myself with Ruaidhri Tierney who had a string of 10/11 flat horses in his yard in Kinsale.
I took out my apprentices’ licence while based with Ruaidhri and also rode my first winner for him. The horse in question, Always On Top, was actually joined in partnership by Ruaidhri and my dad. Eventually the time came to move on, as Ruaidhri only had limited numbers and I wanted to progress on to a larger yard.
So I went down to John Joseph Murphy, where I spent the next year and a half. It was a much bigger operation, so I got plenty more opportunities, as well as learning from the likes of jump jockey Eddie Power. It was certainly a school of hard knocks down there, with little sympathy if you fell off a mount!
At 17, I took the decision to move up to the Curragh, as I felt it was the heartbeat of flat racing in this country. I re-signed to Ruaidri Tierney as an apprentice but basically rode as a freelance for anyone that would use me.
Trainers such as Tom McCourt and Liam McAteer were a great support in those early years and continued to be so thereafter. Always keen to improve further as a jockey, I had a word with Fran Berry, Mick Kinane and Johnny Murtagh, who suggested I approach John Oxx to seek his advice. After chatting to the world renowned trainer, he asked me to come in and ride out at his yard, eventually signing me on as stable apprentice.
At the same time, Ruaidhri Tierney had started out as a jockeys’ agent, so I switched over to him. That first season I was in John Oxx’s [2010] I tied for the apprentice jockeys’ championship with Joseph O’Brien and Gary Carroll on 39 winners apiece.
King Ottokar and Ben Curtis winning the Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup British EBF Conditions Stakes in Newbury /Healy Racing.
Fortunate
I was very fortunate in being able to ride work with men of the calibre of Niall McCullagh, Fran Berry, Mick Kinane and Johnny Murtagh, as their advice proved invaluable. John Oxx was very good to me, giving me plenty of chances to ride winners for the yard. As for Ruaidhri, I couldn’t have asked for a better or harder working agent. I wasn’t as well known as Joseph or Gary but he rang everyone and found the rides from somewhere.
A feature of that campaign was the number of big-priced outsiders that I was successful aboard. In the winters of 2009 and 2011, I spent three months riding in America, something I found particularly beneficial in terms getting the “clock” right in my head.
After that championship-winning season of 2010, I rode a further 37 winners a year later but by 2012, it had started to get more difficult here at home.
I rode out my claim but also found that while I was still picking up the rides, the quality just wasn’t the same. For one reason or another, a lot of smaller owners and syndicates left the game, so the trainers I had been riding for suffered as a result.
It had been my intention for a while to try riding in Britain, as I wasn’t satisfied with my progress at home.
Quite my chance, Simon Dodds, an agent, had spotted a gap for a rider in the north of England and approached me about the possibility of moving over. As I didn’t want to jump in head first, I agreed to a trial basis, where I could fly back and over whenever necessary.
Alan Swinbank used me regularly and despite his reputation of being a hard man to work for I actually got on very well with him. Alan was a great trainer who had this incredible talent for winning flat races with ex bumper horses.
By 2015, I was satisfied that Britain was the right fit for me, so I sat down and discussed the move with John Oxx. As ever, he was fantastic with his advice, telling me that if I continued to graft and work as hard I had been doing that I could definitely have a successful career over there.
In Britain, I was primarily based with Alan Swinbank, although from the outset, I set about building new contacts and riding out for as many trainers as possible. Brian Ellison was close to my base in Malton, so I went in to ride for him as well.
Instumental
Any morning I had spare, I approached trainers asking if I could ride a few lots for them. It was as a result of such a situation that I first got in contact with Karl Burke, a man who has been instrumental in my career. Having given me a chance when I first arrived in Britain, he has stuck with me throughout the years and we have a fantastic strike rate together.
Last season, I finished third in the jockeys’ championship, so if I can stay injury free and get a bit of luck, I’d hope to be in contention in 2020.
If anything, I’d expect the competition to be ever tougher this time round as lads will be hungrier after the enforced break. Oisin Murphy remains the man to beat as he has huge support and Qatar have been good to him, in allowing him to pursue the title whenever it doesn’t overly interfere with their plans.
If I was fortunate enough to find myself challenging for the crown, then I would certainly give it 110%. I pride myself on my work ethic and have always lived by the motto “if I get a ride, I will ride it”.
Perhaps on occasions that may seem a bit foolhardy but I am prepared to put in the hours and miles, travelling for one or two rides if needs be.
Right now, the jockeys’ championship, or indeed even the resumption of racing, seems a long way away but hopefully everything will work itself out if we all stick together. Racing, like every other industry has to do its part to help the greater cause.
Ben Curtis was in conversation with John O’Riordan