HE might have earned himself the nickname ‘Aussie Tom’ through a host of big-race victories down under, but Tom Marquand was undoubtedly the toast of Dublin last Saturday.

The pressure of riding the favourites in both of Leopardstown’s Group 1s only seemed to elevate the 26-year-old’s riding to the very highest echelon, emerging from the capital with a brilliant brace in races that held the potential to be distinctly tactical. Marquand never missed a beat on Porta Fortuna in the €400,000 Coolmore America “Justify” Matron Stakes, and that set up a magical 35 minutes for the Cheltenham native.

The feature race of the Irish Champions Festival deserves a grandstand finish and genuine excellence, and the 2024 edition of the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes delivered on both fronts.

Marquand produced a champion’s ride on the William Haggas-trained Economics to thwart reigning title holder Auguste Rodin in the €1.25 million event. It was a spellbinding effort from horse and rider.

The leading young jockey went close but was out of luck in his two Sunday mounts at the Irish Champions Festival, though there was some icing on the cake to come at the Curragh.

Marquand’s wife, record-breaking jockey Hollie Doyle, entered new territory as the first female jockey to win an Irish flat Group 1 aboard the excellent Bradsell in the Flying Five. Not a bad weekend’s work for the talented duo, to say the least.

MB: Talk to me about your celebrations on Sunday evening. I assume it must have been a very happy homecoming with yourself and Hollie winning 50% of all Group 1s here last weekend?

TM: It was very steady and quiet; we just got back and went out for a bit of dinner. I guess weekends like that get pretty surreal, really. We’ve been lucky over the last few years but for it all to culminate on one weekend like that is pretty rare. The closest we had before was Champions Day at Ascot [in 2020 when notching a combined four-timer], but to go to Ireland and pull that off was really fun. Hollie has got a lot of Irish family down in Clonmel too, so that adds to it all.

MB: You seem to have a knack for making a quick impact at different international tracks. Your first ride in Ireland was a Group 1 winner in the 2022 Tattersalls Gold Cup on Alenquer, and I think your first ride in America was a Breeders’ Cup winner last year on Big Evs. You’ve obviously had plenty of success in Australia too. How much of a kick do you get out of travelling to these different tracks and cracking the code?

TM: I love it. It’s something I’ve always tried to angle my career towards, travelling and riding. I was 17 when I first went to Australia and didn’t imagine back then I’d be flying in trying to take out Group 1s in different countries now. I’m very lucky.

MB: What’s your preparation like for a Group 1 ride overseas?

TM: Replays are the biggest way to figure it out. That really helps with the conversations you’re having with connections before those races. For example, I was confident walking out into the paddock for the Irish Champion Stakes saying that the majority of winners who haven’t had stablemates in the race have been coming on that three-wide line for the last 15 years. Roaring Lion springs to mind as one who came on that path. Having watched all those replays, it makes a big difference in how you’re going out. You’re not guessing.

MB: There was obviously plenty of talk before the Irish Champion about how tactical the race could be, and there is an element of coming into the lion’s den taking on four from Ballydoyle on a favourite. Did you expect to be positioned as far forward as you were on him?

TM: To be honest, we were keen not to just drop straight in from the draw and then have your hands tied. We were keen to keep things fluid, and that’s what we did. After a furlong or two, I changed plans because it didn’t really feel like we were in the right slot for what would have benefited the horse. Aidan [O’Brien] obviously has four in there and has the benefit of knowing how those four intend to be ridden. It’s not that they’re riding to get you beat - they’re riding to win - it’s just a benefit to know what 50% of the field will do when everyone else is trying to go out and figure it out. Sometimes you have to be versatile and change plans, and thankfully it worked from the loose image of what I wanted to do.

MB: You had a very willing partner to take you where you wanted to go too.

TM: He’s just a top, top class horse. He had to be in order to finish the job off at Leopardstown. We feel he really looks like he’s starting to come to himself now as a horse and is physically imposing. That maturity is coming. I know William [Haggas] touched on it too, but the biggest thing I was pleased to see and feel was his attitude towards the closing stages; it was pretty incredible for a horse only having his fifth run. His mental fortitude must be insane, I think that’s his biggest asset. He’s obviously got that physical power too with a huge stride. He’s all there.

MB: It might sound unusual to say about a horse who has just won an Irish Champion Stakes, but does he still feel raw?

TM: I think so. He’s still learning, which is incredible, and his leaps from run to run have been amazing. From a jockey’s perspective, when he won a maiden over a mile at Newbury in April, it took a lot of work to get him to win by a length and a half... If you thought heading out that day you had a horse who would be winning an Irish Champion Stakes three runs later, you’d have expected him to do it in a canter! I know he won the Dante and won by six, but he was sort of falling in late when he hit the front, and he took a bit of winding up on a sharper track at Deauville, so to see him be so much more professional at Leopardstown was amazing. He’s not finished yet in that sense either.

MB: You can only beat what’s put in front of you, but obviously City Of Troy was an absentee from the Irish Champion and it looks like we probably won’t ever get the chance to see him clash with Economics. It surely would have been a cracking race if they ever got the chance to meet.

TM: I suppose it’s a bit like the Frankel versus Sea The Stars debate and what could have been. As a racing fan, I’d love to see it and it’d be something to look forward to. We all want good horses to clash. Even if Economics had gone down narrowly to a very good horse in Auguste Rodin, there would have been no doubting his talent still. They’re the clashes everyone wants to see and I love things like that.

Having been in Australia for a little while before, they’re very good at building up match races and stuff like that. I got to experience that with the likes of Addeybb and Verry Elleegant, and then Dubai Honour and Anamoe. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed, how they make a deal out of it for racing fans to get involved in.

MB: It’s interesting that you mention that, because there have been some conversations over here as to how we promote big flat meetings like the Irish Champions Festival. It seems like National Hunt racing captures the public’s imagination more. Broadly speaking, from what you’ve seen around the world, are there things that tracks in this part of the world could take on board to make things better? Could we make more of those big clashes?

TM: I think there’s always work to be done for marketing racing and improving our fanbase, but it can be tough to do. For example, if the media tried to bill the Irish Champion Stakes as a match race between Auguste Rodin and Economics, all we’d have been saying is ‘yeah, but there’s six others in the race we have to beat as well’ - we’re quick to bat it off. And that’s because it’s the reality.

I’m only speaking about Australia because it’s the one I’ve experienced the most, but I guess they know what sells racing there and kind of hype that part up a bit. They do a great job. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and something will come from the clouds to win - beating the pair they were billing as the big two. Everyone might feel a bit silly but it doesn’t really matter because the build up has got attention on the race. It’s such an interesting one, how you take racing to that different crowd.

MB: Talk to me about Porta Fortuna. She must be a joy to ride?

TM: She’s an absolute weapon. A jockey’s dream to ride because you can send her forward out the gate and she shuts straight down as soon as you decide on what your pitch is. Before you’ve even thought about getting going, she’s already three strides into taking off. You can get to the front a bit early on her as a result, and the race fell away a little bit to leave her there, and she just got a bit lonely. She’s dominant in the division and is super straightforward.

MB: The tactical scenario Donnacha O’Brien painted in the pre-race build-up seemed to work out exactly as planned. It must be a positive to have his previous riding experience as an input into preparing for races like that?

TM: Absolutely, and he’s campaigned her to absolute perfection. She’s not dipped in any of her runs. It’s not always a given that riding experience means you’ll be a good trainer, but you can definitely tell with him that he makes life very straightforward when riding for him. In his mind, he can communicate what he’d do in the same position and what he expects of you in a race. It’s great to be able to communicate that. I can’t stress enough how great a job he’s done with her. This filly has danced every dance but he’s never overfaced her.

MB: As far as your own season has gone, you’ve taken slightly less rides in Britain than was the case in your busiest years of 1,000+, but your strike rate is better than ever and there have been plenty of big-race winners. Has your approach changed this year?

TM: I think a little more focus has probably gone onto big days and trying to pick up good spares in the good races, which is easy to say but harder to do! I’ve been very lucky and Porta Fortuna is a direct example of that. I think this year has been fantastic. With the travelling and everything involved, it does inflict a bit of suffering on your numbers, but ultimately whether you have 900 rides a year or 700 rides a year, that’s not the difference in a good or bad year. You want to be focused on the right things. My agent, Sash [Righton], has been with me from the start and the change in goalposts has been pretty marked over the last few years. He’s done an amazing job of adapting his style of doing things to improve my position with how he campaigns me.

MB: You’re up to 16 Group/Grade 1 winners now, and there’s a big autumn to look forward to with the likes of Economics in the Champion Stakes at Ascot and Big Evs at the Breeders’ Cup.

TM: I think this is the first season I’ve had a handful of really good horses to look ahead with. Normally, you feel like you’re almost trying to scrape one somewhere, whereas this year has felt a little bit different. It’s special.

MB: Ever since you started riding, I’m not the only who has found your enthusiasm infectious when hearing you speak about racing, and this December marks 10 years since your first winner. Some people in the same age bracket outside of the racing bubble have gone off and lived different lives, changed careers and so on. We all know that racing is up-and-down, and relentless. When the sport requires you to be essentially all-in all of the time - and isn’t always simple - has your perspective changed at all in terms of the enthusiasm you approach it with? I realise I’m probably asking you this question at the wrong time on the back of two Group 1 winners!

TM: No, I think it’s actually a really good question because you unwaveringly throw yourself in from a very young age. Hollie was even younger than me when it became clear that she was going to go into racing, maybe at the age of 11 or 12, and I might have been a year or two later as we were involved in pony racing. From the age of 13 or 14, you know there’s only one outcome and that’s becoming a jockey. It is a strange one in that it just has to become everything you do and everything you are. We’ve been so lucky, though, that it’s made easier when we’ve had that little bit of encouragement or a result from the game at every step along the way that makes you want it even more. You keep building blocks on top of another.

The harsh reality is the injury side of it and the commitment to it, it has to be everything you do. With the pair of us, we’ve always had that one aligned goal and it makes it very easy for when things aren’t going how you want. For example, we were both off through last year [through injury] and I guess everyone thinks you’d enjoy some time off, but it does not work like that. We were both there absolutely pissed off out of our brains, going to the physio every day to get back racing as fast as we could! There’s no off-switch, even when you are off. It’s something we love and the full commitment is there. We’ve always done it together and it will undoubtedly keep down that route as long as we possibly can.

MB: You’ve spoken about your concerns with the closure of racecourse saunas in the past. The topic doesn’t tend to make the headlines as often nowadays, but do frustrations still exist on the ground in Britain over that development?

TM: Massively so. Take a day like today [Tuesday], for example, when I’m travelling to Newcastle. Personally, I’d love to get there early, do a lap around the track, head to the gym down the road for half an hour to loosen up and hop in the sauna for 15 minutes to feel good and fresh. Instead, I’m here sitting in the car for four or five hours and while I can have a run on course, if I’ve got weight to lose it stretches the day out. If I had light weights, I’d be up early and sweating to lose the weight eight to 10 hours before I’m riding, and that’s crazy. I’m lucky to have a driver for days like today, but other people are having to lose the weight early and drive without being able to sip on a coffee on the road. It’s nuts that people are having to live through this. The problem certainly hasn’t gone away, even if the fuss about it has to a degree.

MB: Finally, on a personal level, what’s motivating you most?

TM: I think I honestly just love winning. The high-level success is ultimately what I do it for and what I get a kick out of most, travelling around the world and riding winners in different places. On a day like today when I’m heading to Newcastle and the final race is 8.30pm, your motivation mightn’t directly look like high-level success but indirectly I feel it still is. With heading to Kempton and Newcastle and so on, nothing else happens without doing it there. I guess the chase becomes a bit easier when you have a horse like Economics to look forward to as well.