TITLE CHASER CURTIS IS UP TO THE MARK
BEN CURTIS will ride “more and more” for Mark Johnston’s recordbreaking Middleham stable this year — and his odds for the 2021 jockeys’ title are in freefall.
Despite a season ravaged by the Covid-19 crisis, the 31-year-old Irishman had a 2020 to remember, with a calendar year total of 170 winners — more than any jockey in Britain.
And Curtis’s rise — including a success aboard the Johnstontrained Nayef Road in the Group 3 Sagaro Stakes at Newcastle last June — has caught the eye ote of the North Yorkshirebased Scot, who in August 2018 overtook the now-retired Richard Hannon Snr as the most winning g trainer in the history of British racing.
“We don’t have any formal arrangements with any jockeys – the last formal retainer I had with any jockey was Kevin Darley, and that ended in about 2006,” said Johnston, whose Kingsley Park yard uses the weighing room’s top talents, including stable stalwarts Joe Fanning and Franny Norton.
“Both Franny and Joe are 50 and neither has given an indication of slowing down, or retiring.
“But they can’t go on forever and, when they do retire, there needs to be other jockeys coming along behind that who ride regularly for us.
“Ben Curtis is right in there — at the top of the list.
“We get on very well with him and he’s done very well for us. So, if he continues to be available and continues to ride winners for us, you will see him being used more and more.”
Curtis’s stellar 2020, which also included a first Royal Ascot triumph — aboard the Karl Burkesaddled Dandalla in the Group 3 Albany Stakes — ended prematurely when he was knocked unconscious in a horror fall at Wolverhampton on December 8.
But, since his return to the saddle 23 days later, Curtis (below) has picked up where he left off, with five winners since the start of the year. “It was absolutely a very successful se season for him,” added 61-year-old Johnston (below left). “W “We used Ben quit quite it a bit last ye year and he w would have ridden more for us if he had been more a available.” The tie-up with J Johnston’s prolific operation has seen Curtis’s odds to dethrone reigning champion jockey Oisín Murphy plummet.
William Hill, who on Tuesday laid 14-1 against Curtis lifting the rider’s crown, have now slashed him to 4-1. Ladbrokes go even shorter, at 7-2.
“The fact that Ben Curtis rode more winners than any other jockey in Britain means he’s not exactly a dark horse for the title,” said Ladbrokes’ Jon Lees.
“He has spoken of his ambition to be champion jockey, and, following the news that he will be riding more for Mark Johnston in 2021, he’s likely to be in the mix.”