QUEALLY ON JUMPS SWITCH
Exclusive interview withFrankel’s rider as he takes National Hunt licence
TOM QUEALLY says a love of riding all horses is the motivation behind his decision to take out a National Hunt licence nearly a decade after his association with the incomparable Frankel.
Queally enjoyed a New Year’s Day success over hurdles when partnering Owenacurra Lass – trained by his brother Declan – to an impressive victory at Tramore where Queally relished the race.
And, just last week, he was runner-up on The Getaway Star at Market Rasen in a Bumper – effectively a flat contest that gives National Hunt horses vital experience before a career over obstacles.
In an exclusive interview with The Yorkshire Post, the quietly spoken and ever thoughtful 35-year-old hopes that the experience and enjoyment of a new challenge will help to prolong his career on the Flat.
He says he’s also open to racing over steeplechase fences – and that the ultimate would be a ride in the Grade One Bumper at Cheltenham’s blue riband National Hunt Festival in March. He’s open to offers.
“It just kind of makes sense,” says Queally, who rode the late Sir Henry Cecil’s mesmerising champion Frankel to victory in all 14 races from 2010-12. “My job is a jockey. It doesn’t matter whether it is Flat or jumps. I’m very capable of riding a racehorse; it doesn’t matter what code it is in.
“Lots of lads are between jobs and that’s exactly where I am. There’s no one can stop me from doing it. I’m loving it. It’s no big deal. But I would regret it if I didn’t do it.”
Queally has always regarded himself as a horseman first and jockey second. His heroes growing up in his native Ireland included Charlie Swann and Conor O’Dwyer, both Cheltenham legends. Yet, while his relatively light weight meant he was always destined for a career on the Flat, he’s always maintained a lifelong interest in all racing.
And while there were times, particularly during the Frankel era, when public expectation weighed heavily on a jockey never comfortable with the limelight as the horse’s rise to super-stardom for Prince Khalid Abdullah
coincided with Cecil’s cancer fight, the enjoyment riding for his brother and their father – Declan senior – is discernible.
He is relishing becoming part of the ‘family’ operation as they try to compete with the powerhouses of Irish racing with modest horses, and Queally is looking forward to riding the aforementioned Owenacurra Lass in a forthcoming race at Leopardstown for 100,000 euros.
“I’m amazed what my dad and brother are doing. They’re not keeping with the big boys, the owners-breeders. They’re doing it with horses that can cost £23,000,” said Queally, who also won the 2013 Ebor on Tiger Cliff. “I can’t get my head round it. I went home and I was riding out for two weeks. Their horses are happy and healthy, simple as that.”
Yet Queally is keen to stress that he will, first and foremost, be a Flat rider in the summer despite his winners, and rides, dwindling in recent times.
From recording four successive centuries of winners between 2008-2011, and then the exhilaration of Frankel’s spinetingling victory in the 2012 Juddmonte International at York when champion horses were made to look ordinary, last year
yielded just 15 winners from 315 rides.
He was also replaced on The Tin Man after partnering James Fanshawe’s sprinter to victory in the Champion Sprint at Ascot in 2016 and then the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot the following year. But he says his enthusiasm is being rekindled by the National Hunt challenge rather than restricting himself to the winter all-weather circuit where the quality of racing can be moderate.
The fact that the minimum weight is 10st is another incentive for this keen cycling enthusiast. “It’s nice to have a couple of streaky rashers (bacon) and pot of coffee before racing than spending four or five hours in the bath sweating,” he explains.
“I am going to ride away this year for Gary Moore and Alan King who train both Flat and jump horses. George Margarson is also building up his numbers. There’s plenty there. I wouldn’t say I am the best jockey in the world but my game plan has always been to get on with the horse, whether it be Frankel or a hurdler. That’s my main game – to get inside a horse’s head from the get-go.”
Asked how he relished racing towards a hurdle, his approach is simple: “Try to get the other side as quickly as possible and keep the revs up.”
And the prospect, in time, of riding over steeplechase fences? “If the right horse came along and had 10st to 10st 4lb, there is no issue with my bottle or anything like that. There’s no panic.”
■ Sue Smith’s Ravenhill Road is the sole Yorkshire entry in this weekend’s Sky Bet Chase at Doncaster.
The big race line-up includes Mick Channon’s former Cheltenham Festival winner Mister Whitaker.
Meanwhile, Phil Kirby’s course specialist Lady Buttons heads the eight entries for the Grade Two Yorkshire Rose Mares’ Hurdle on the same card.