YOU didn’t have to look too far on social media last weekend to find English soccer supporters in a frenzy over stellar young striker Evan Ferguson, pleading with him to reconsider his Irish allegiance in the aftermath of his first Premier League hat-trick.
Our neighbours would clearly like the 18-year-old starlet from Co Meath, whose mother is English, to switch sides and don the white of England. However, luckily for Irish football, Ferguson is here to stay.
If the shoe happened to be on the other foot and Irish racing could claim any of Britain’s brightest young talents as our own, Hollie Doyle would surely be right up there at the top of Ireland’s wishlist.
The daughter of Clonmel, Co Tipperary native Mark Doyle - a former rider himself who plied his trade across the Irish Sea from the age of 16 onwards - Hollie has ascended to major heights to now be recognised as a standout talent in the British weighing room.
This May marked a decade since Doyle’s first mount but her progress over the past five years has been unmissable.
Having notched up a respectable haul of 54 domestic winners in 2018, the ambitious 26-year-old has seen her stock soar in recent seasons. Annual tallies in Britain since then of 116, 150, 172 and 151 winners a year illustrate the impressive nature of her rise.
Despite having missed time earlier this year after a heavy fall that saw her fracture and dislocate an elbow, as well as rupturing ligaments, she marches on to this weekend’s Irish Champions Festival on the brink of another century.
The record-breaking rider has the chance to notch arguably the biggest success in her career at Leopardstown today in the €1.25 million Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes when teaming up with old ally Nashwa. That brilliant filly’s French Oaks triumph last year meant Doyle became the first female jockey to win a European Group 1 classic.
Back-to-back Royal Ascot hero Bradsell represents another serious chance for Doyle to register a breakthrough win in Ireland in tomorrow’s Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai Flying Five Stakes - an achievement that would be dear to her heart given her Tipperary roots.
“I’ve been coming over to Ireland for a while now so I know how hard it is here to ride winners, how competitive the racing is,” says Doyle, who has rattled the crossbar with two Irish Champions Festival seconds in recent years.
“You’ve got to be on the right horses. If I can get it done this weekend and have my first winner in Ireland, it would mean a lot. Especially at this meeting.
Family roots
“Plenty of my family live in Clonmel and my nan actually plans on coming to the Curragh on Sunday. That’ll be nice to get to meet up as I’m not able to see my family in Ireland all that often. We keep in touch but with the way things are with the nature of riding, I never really get to go over to Ireland to spend time with them in Clonmel. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Doyle has long come across as a down-to-earth and likeable personality with no ego, but a relentlessness and cast-iron determination bubbles under the surface.
Her steely work ethic is demonstrated by her strong numerical returns each season, though she has also been able to demonstrate a real knack for delivering the goods on the big stage.
Having recorded her first Group 1 success aboard Glen Shiel in the 2020 Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot, she has now partnered an impressive eight winners at the highest level. Not only that, but a treble at Royal Ascot in June brought her tally to a half dozen winners at the world-famous meeting, while trusted partner Trueshan has struck eight times under Doyle - including in an outstanding weight-carrying performance in last year’s Northumberland Plate. Willie Mullins has called on the 2020 Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year on a few occasions, including when plundering a valuable turf race in Saudi Arabia with True Self, and other top Irish operators such as Jessica Harrington and Aidan O’Brien have utilised her services in high-profile moments.
Cool under pressure
“I know it might sound weird but I think I ride best when the pressure is highest,” says Doyle.
“I feel like I thrive under pressure. I love pressure. Riding on the biggest days and when there is the most pressure possible, I really enjoy performing like that. I’m lucky to be in the position where I get those high-profile rides so hopefully I can keep on delivering. When you don’t, that’s where the problems come.
“I think I’ve definitely changed as a rider in recent years and getting the opportunity to ride in Group 1s means I prove to myself that I can ride at the highest level. There’s confidence that comes with riding abroad too.”
Several successful international raids give her good reason to take heart from competing abroad.
As well as a groundbreaking French Oaks victory and a lucrative Saudi Arabian venture, the talented pony racing graduate has notched a host of blacktype contests in France - including the 2022 Prix de l’Abbaye aboard The Platinum Queen - and captured a local Group 1 in Qatar last year.
A tilt at the Italian Oaks paid off this summer when partnering the locally-trained Shavasana to success, while she has also recorded Group 3 honours in Germany and enjoyed fruitful visits to Hong Kong and Japan, to name just a few destinations.
International ambitions
In fact, she has already been on the phone to connections of this year’s Melbourne Cup second favourite Soulcombe, inquiring about the possibility of her reuniting with the four-year-old she won the Melrose Handicap on at last year’s York Ebor Festival.
“I get a big kick out of riding winners in different countries,” she says.
“I love travelling and making the most of the good position I’m in. I want to ride in as many jurisdictions as I can while I’m still wanted.
“It would be some buzz to ride a Breeders’ Cup winner some day. Hopefully, if all goes well this weekend, maybe Bradsell could head to the Breeders’ Cup but it’s one of those trips that you have to play by ear. It’s a long year and anything can happen. Hopefully I can get a ride out there and have a winner.”
Bradsell’s trainer and Doyle’s leading supporter Archie Watson is rarely afraid to travel his horses, and he has been to the fore in many of Doyle’s lucrative French trips.
“Archie seems to find the right races for the right horses no matter where he runs them,” says Doyle, who has a strong chance with the Watson-trained Albasheer in tomorrow’s Irish Stallion Farms EBF ‘Bold Lad’ Sprint Handicap at the Curragh. “He doesn’t miss a trick and not much gets away from him. He’s pretty shrewd. Overall as a trainer, I think he has a good handle on his horses and places them well.
Tactical preparation
“I always spend time in advance evaluating the races I’m riding in. I do a fair amount to look for any possible pace angles, seeing if you can find any way to get an edge on other horses. I’m lucky that my boss lets me ride them as I find them too, and he tends to like them ridden prominently enough.”
Racing in Britain is undergoing a period of multifaceted challenges and jockeys certainly have not been immune to the changing times.
Doyle’s husband, world-class jockey Tom Marquand, has probably been one of the best communicators among Britain’s riding fraternity for some time during these developing situations, speaking with purpose on controversial new whip rules in the jurisdiction and the closure of racecourse saunas.
The demands on riders, in some respects, can also be felt more keenly in Britain as opposed to Ireland. That is mostly due to the extended distances that must be travelled for rides in a significantly bigger nation than Ireland- and for mostly for modest prize money.
“Thankfully Tom does the talking for the pair of us because it’s not something I’m always as comfortable with!” quips Doyle.
“He enjoys it and is passionate about the topics he’s speaking on. We’re all taking an interest in what’s going on at the moment and it’s good that Tom can speak for us all who mightn’t be as vocal.”
‘A real shame’
What would Doyle like to see tweaked in racing, in a bid to improve the collective lot?
“Prize money is obviously an issue and we’re losing a lot of good horses to racing nations abroad,” she says. “That’s not a good situation when Britain and Ireland is the home of horse racing in the world. It’s a real shame.
“The new whip rules in Britain are not satisfactory to me. To me, it feels like the authorities haven’t got their priorities right in that they’re not doing the best for the sport. For some reason, it seems to be that they are prioritising people who are non-participants in the sport, which is frustrating. This sport is an accessible one but I don’t know if it’s always portrayed like that, though there are people trying their best for racing.”
On the daily commuting demands on riders in Britain, she adds: “The time you spend travelling here is probably the most challenging part of riding here. For example, I live just outside Hungerford and travelled up to Hamilton on Tuesday evening for two rides. One of them got withdrawn and then my flight was delayed two hours on the way home. It ended up being midnight by the time I got back. I took a flight as otherwise it would have been an eight-hour drive.
“I’m up north a lot so I have commutes like that often. It’s not easy but if you don’t know any different, you’re halfway there I suppose. I find riding very easy - it’s the travelling that can get to you. I don’t want to complain too much. I must be loving what I’m doing because I’m still getting up every day going at it.
“There isn’t much time for us in terms of days away from the races. I like to catch up with my family and friends whenever I get a moment. I feel like a bad friend at times for not being around as often as others might be, but thankfully they all understand the nature of the job.”
Champion aim
Doyle has achieved plenty in a relatively short space of time. Make no mistake, though, she harbours ambitions much greater than where she has already progressed to.
The need to be committed, unrelenting and tireless when bidding to win a jockeys’ championship appears to be right up her street.
“It would be a dream come true to be champion jockey some day,” says Doyle, who has set new records for most winners ridden in a calendar year by a female jockey in Britain.
“I’m doing everything in my power, and it is hard, but I want to get there. I might have to try looking at a few angles and change a few things to get within reach of it but I would love to do it.
“I finished second last year [behind William Buick and had been fourth and fifth in the previous two seasons]. As of this week, I’ve been in a share of third in the championship and have been trying to do all I can, but it’s about being able to bridge the gap at the top. I love the graft of it all.”
A landmark first jockeys’ title will likely have to wait for another year but a feature-race strike with Nashwa today at Leopardstown wouldn’t be a bad consolation. A champion’s prize for a champion in waiting.
Nashwa
Saturday: 3.20 Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes
She’s never run a bad race in her life and that’s very rare for any horse, especially for a filly. There are not many who can do what she has done and I’m lucky to have been associated with her. Fillies like her don’t come around too often, do they?
The Irish Champion Stakes looks an unreal race on paper. You’ve got the Derby winner, Auguste Rodin, and a host of other top horses like King Of Steel. I think Nashwa deserves to take her chance, especially after her performance at York last time in the Juddmonte International. She stayed on really well to finish second behind Mostahdaf.
I think a lot of people had felt she might be better over shorter but we never really had staying doubts at all about her over the mile and a quarter. She’s always stayed that trip fine, though she was pretty devastating over a mile in the Falmouth Stakes. She’s such a versatile filly, handles any type of ground and isn’t dependent on one trip.
Bradsell
Sunday: 2.55 Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai Flying Five Stakes
He ran a real good race when third in the Nunthorpe last time. It was a crazy sort of race in the sense of how fast they went on rattling quick ground. All the pace ended up being on the far side away from me and I thought it would play to my strengths, that there could be a burn-out, but the pace ended up holding up.
Reflecting on it, it was such an easy five furlongs at York that maybe it was a bit sharp for him. We’re hoping that the five-furlong test at the Curragh will suit him. He likes to travel within his comfort zone so if I can get him racing where he’s happy, we’ll be halfway there. We were almost on our head for most of the way at York.
It’ll be interesting to take on Highfield Princess again. Obviously she finished half a length up on me at York but we were drawn quite the way away from her then. I’ll be keeping an eye on the draw again this time and see how it works out.