HOL LOT OF SKILL

Doyle dreaming of Group 1 breakthrough

FAST GETTING TO THE TOP Record breaker Hollie Doyle is set to ride in three Group 1s today on Glen Shiel (right), Dame Malliot (above) and Extra Elusive

HOLLIE DOYLE doesn’t know “when or where” she will ride the first Group 1 winner of her going-places career.

But, like the rest of us, she knows it’s not a matter of “if ”.

There could be no more fitting time and place than this afternoon’s QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot – where Doyle (below) takes viable mounts in three of the four Group 1 races – to put the seal on a remarkable campaign.

The 24-year-old ld recorded her second century en route to breaking her own wn record for victories by y a female rider in Britain in when State Occasion gave her the 117th triumph ph of 2020 at Kempton on on Wednesday.

“I never expected cted it to be as good,” admits s Doyle. “I had targets but, when we had the lockdown, I didn’t riding 100 winners.”

But this year has not just been about the numbers.

Doyle savoured success at Royal Ascot for the first time as Scarlet Dragon captured the Duke Of Edinburgh Handicap in June.

“It was my dream since I was a little kid to ride a winner at Royal Ascot,” she recalls. “When you’ve wanted it so long it doesn’t matter that there weren’t any crowds.”

Dame Malliot delivered a first Pattern win in the Group 2 Princess Of Waless Wales’s Stakes Stake at Newmarket in July.

Then D Doyle christened her partnership part with 2007 D Derby hero Authorize Authorized’s owner Imad Al Sagar with Group 3 scores a aboard Extra Elusive in Haydock Park’s Rose Of La Lancaster Stakes and the Wi Winter Hill Stakes at Wind Windsor.

T The victory on think

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Dame Malliot, Group 2 Princess Of Wales’s Stakes, Newmarket, July 9 2020. BEST SEASON: 2020 — 118 winners. The tally is the highest by a female jockey in Britain.

Thameside was the fourth leg of a history-making 899-1 five-timer, and the Roger Charlton trainee is Doyle’s partner in the featured Group 1 QIPCO Champion Stakes.

“It’s a big ask for him, but he deserves to be there,” says the Herefordshire- born jockey, who met partner and fellow rider Tom Marquand when the pair rode out for trainer Richard Hannon.

“We changed the tactics and let him do his own thing, and he’s really turned the corner.”

Glen Shiel has a length and a quarter to find with Dream Of Dreams from Haydock’s Betfair Sprint Cup when the pair clash in the Group 1 British Champions Sprint, while Dame Malliot is just a 7-2 shot for the top-level British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes.

“She thrives on soft ground and will really love Ascot,” says Doyle. “I know how hard it is to win a Group 1. I don’t know where or when it’s going to happen, but I’ve got some excellent chances today.”