THE enduring, eternal splendour of the American Dream is that it means whatever someone wants it to mean. It speaks seductively to its pursuers about freedom, validation, transformation, and it hangs invitingly in the consciousness like a ripe and rosy apple from a branch just out of reach, yet almost within reach, just stretch that little bit further . . . grasp it, and your life will be changed.

Life has certainly changed for Ben Curtis. That much is apparent from his carefree instruction to call for an interview whenever you like because I’m free all day. Before he began following this particular dream, how often was there time to put his feet up on a Monday morning, squander half an hour on the Fourth Estate?

“Never,” he says, and then he rubs it in, accentuates the positive. “It’s 23 degrees, the sun is shining, there’s plenty of time to get my life organised.

“If I was back in England I’d be chasing around like a blue-arsed fly, trying to do my job and 10 other things at the same time. I love a new challenge, I always have, because you can get stale doing the same thing again and again. Now was the time to make a change, and there are no regrets.”

As a jockey, Curtis’ career path in Ireland and then Britain has been characterised by a fearsome work ethic, a taste for hard graft that – allied to his obvious talent – has ensured him a good living. Now, perhaps, at the age of 34, it’s about working smarter rather than harder, and even if the living is not exactly easy (because it never is) it is certainly simpler.

New lifestyle

“I’ve never had a break before, and although I’m still working hard it’s a much more relaxed life, nothing like the stress of before,” he says. “I love it - when I drove up here from New Orleans it was a 20-hour trip but there was no rush, I could take in all the new scenery.

“I went to Nashville, drove up through Virginia, ticking things off that I’d always wanted to see. Right now I’m based in horse country where Maryland and Delaware meet, and Philadelphia isn’t far away, Washington’s not so far, I’m just making the most of all the new experiences. I rode at Laurel Park last Friday, then went to Churchill Downs to breeze some horses over the weekend, then I’m back at Laurel for a few rides this weekend.

“After that, back to Churchill Downs for a couple of weeks, make some more connections, build up a bit of business, and then Delaware Park begins its meet and that’s right on my doorstep.”

The mention of Churchill Downs hints at a very particular aspect of the American Dream, but as we’re in such a relaxed mood that can wait a while. After all, none of the above had been on the agenda when Curtis made plans to spend the winter in the US, crossing the water like a migratory bird in search of warmer weather.

“My father was born in America, so I have a US passport and that made it all a bit easier, no visas, no restrictions,” he says, recognising the advantage that enabled him to fast-track his way through Ellis Island, skipping past the huddled masses.

“I came with an open mind. I’d ridden all over the world but had never ridden a winner in the US, so now was the time. I wanted to start from scratch – no-one knew who I was – and it was a new challenge for me.”

Curtis based himself in New Orleans for the five-month meet at the historic Fair Grounds, found an agent in former trainer Ron Faucheux with a contacts book to die for, found a house an eight-minute walk from the track, found success straight away. He rode a dozen winners before 2023 was out and built impressively on that foundation in the first three months of this year, finishing the meet in fourth place with 43 winners and more than $1.5 million in prize money.

Surface challenges

“It took me a little time to adapt, as you’d expect,” says Curtis. “Riding on the turf came naturally but the dirt was different – no-one wanted to give me a ride on dirt, and I had to work pretty hard to resolve that.

“The dirt surface at the Fair Grounds is comparable to the old surface at Southwell, you’ve got to get out of the gate and go. It’s all very well riding a patient race on turf, but on dirt you’ve got to make it happen from the start.

“It took a couple of months to mould myself into that way of thinking, but then it fell into place.”

Everything fell into place. There was no office politics regarding the local jockeys – “I have a skin like a rhino, so I wasn’t worried, but there wasn’t anything to worry about anyway” – and fellow Irishman James Graham was there to help if anything got lost in translation. If there was a culture shock, it came in the mornings.

“That was very different. Breezing horses in the morning, and the trainer says something like ‘take this one in 49 seconds for the half’. I mean, in Britain or Ireland, all trainers want to know is whether the horse worked well or it didn’t work well.

“It’s a much more technical approach, but after three or four weeks I was getting it spot-on, it became second nature, the clock in my head was telling the right time. It all helped to boost my confidence, and other people’s confidence in me.”

And along the way, as Curtis adapted and assimilated, growing more confident and comfortable, his New Orleans adventure became not so much a means to an end – get that US winner, avoid the damp, chilly embrace of a British winter – but a means to a new beginning. He can’t put his finger precisely on his point of no return thanks very much, but it had less to do with the job and more to do with the lifestyle.

“I found myself with much more time to spend with the family, my wife Shauna and the boys Brodi and Cian,” he says. “Trackwork aside, I’d be having Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off - I can’t tell you when I made up my mind, but it was probably one day in the park, with the boys. It just clicked.”

Churchill calling

A new start, a new challenge, an arm stretching out towards that ripe, rosy apple. The dream is alive. And, inevitably, for jockeys are the same the whole world over, there is a horse involved. On closing weekend at the Fair Grounds, Curtis rode Honor Marie to be runner-up in the $1m Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, a performance that paved the way for a crack at the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

There are few bigger races in the world, there are no bigger races in the US, and for Curtis to immediately have a legitimate shot at becoming the first Irish jockey to triumph in the ‘Run for the Roses’ is the fable of the American Dream made flesh. Honor Marie, a stone-cold closer whose stamina can be taken on trust, doesn’t have the form of the favourites – he’s around 25-1 for the Derby – but has potential in abundance.

“He ran a massive race in the Louisiana Derby, his best race ever,” says Curtis. “He’s a very laid-back horse, loves his work, and when I breezed him at Churchill last weekend he felt as though he’d improved for that run.”

The Kentucky Derby is a race apart – 20 runners, more often than not a sizzling early pace and plenty of trouble in running – but Curtis has more experience of riding in big fields than any US jockey and, as you’d expect, he is relishing the prospect.

“I’ve watched tapes of the last 20 Derbys and there’s always a lot of speed to the first turn, you need a bit of luck. He won a Grade 2 at the track last November, so that’s a positive, and he’s not a complicated ride.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to settle him in wherever he’s comfortable, hopefully not too far back, and I think the extra distance [none of the Derby runners have tried the ten-furlong trip] will be the key to him. He’s got a great cruising speed and finishes off his races very well – I wouldn’t swap him for anything.

“It’ll be a huge day for me, an amazing chance for me, but I won’t let the occasion get on top of me. When you’re out there on the track it’s just you and the horse, just like any other race.”

Strong upbringing

The man from Kinsale in Co Cork – he was actually born in Nottingham, but keep that on the down-low – may be playing the too-cool-for-school card here, for the dizzying crucible of Churchill Downs on Derby day is a long way removed from the quiet green acres of Gowran Park, where in August 2006 Curtis rode his first winner as a 7lb claimer on his father’s auspiciously-named mare Always On Top.

Four years later he was part of the team at John Oxx’s Currabeg yard and shared the apprentices’ title in a three-way split with Joseph O’Brien and Gary Carroll - what a good year for the roses that was. Curtis recalls those days with great pleasure, and will still pick a fight with anyone over the relative merits of Sea The Stars and Frankel, the latter ranking “an inch behind” Oxx’s magnificent champion.

“What a brilliant grounding that was for me,” he says. “I was riding alongside Mick Kinane, Johnny Murtagh, Fran Berry and Niall McCullagh, incredible jockeys for a kid like me to learn from.

“Mr Oxx was an absolute gentleman. He and his wife [Catriona] were brilliant for me. If you could spend your life around people like that the world would be a better place.”

In 2012 Curtis sought greater opportunities across the Irish Sea and found them, reaching the milestone of 1,000 winners in Britain shortly before boarding that flight to New Orleans in November. A man in his position might be the ideal recipient of a question regarding the differences he’s noticed between racing in Britain and the sport in the US, but the answer could have come from anyone.

“Prize money is the big one,” he says, old news given a fresh coat of paint by his own experience. Last year, in Britain, Curtis rode 100 winners from 677 rides for total earnings of £1,339,559. During his brief time Stateside, he has ridden 43 winners from 261 rides and banked more than $1.5 million.

“It can be ridiculous how bad it is in Britain especially – there are so many hands in the pot. The sport in Britain and Ireland screwed itself years ago [with a bookmaker-driven model rather than a tote monopoly] and it’s never going to be fixed.

“I’m not the first jockey from Britain to try to make a go of it in America and I’m certain I won’t be the last. My advice to any young jockey with the ability, and light enough, is that this is the place you need to be.

“As well as the money side, it’s a much better way of life. I miss all my friends back home but the opportunities are here to be taken.”

Curtis has always been one to seize any opportunity that presented itself. “I’ve always made rash decisions,” he laughs, thinking of the time he badgered his parents to let him spend a few months in Britain working for Anabel King at the age of 14. His most recent change of plan couldn’t be described as rash, though, rather the measured choice of a man doing the best for himself, his family and his career. He may have surprised himself a little, but isn’t life full of surprises?

“I didn’t see myself being here for the rest of the year, but I changed my mind about that and I’ll take things as they come,” he says, sounding like a man ready for anything.

“Eventually, one day, I’ll go back to live in Ireland, but the plan now is to be here as long as it’s working out, that’s the aim for the foreseeable future. Exciting times!”

He pauses, returning in his mind to those ‘rash decisions’, certain that this one is the right one.

“My parents weren’t ‘horse people’ but they understood what I wanted to do. They let me chase my dreams, and I’ll always be grateful for that. Now I’m doing it again, and I’ll keep chasing them until I hang up my boots.”

The line goes dead. Somewhere in Delaware the sun is shining down on Curtis, free all day to chase his own version of the American Dream, close enough now to grasp it. And as the old song goes, if you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?