DANNY BOY IS OUR SILENT ASSASSIN
Nick Townsend catches up with Royal Ascot’s unlikely hero Danny Tudhope
For a self-proclaimed quiet man of the weighing room, one who prefers to leave others to dance in the limelight, Danny Tudhope often finds himself damned to the exposure he’d rather avoid – through his own success. “I’m not very good at being in front of the camera. I’d rather stay in the background,” the Scot admits. Which is no easy task when you have just partnered four winners at Royal Ascot.
We speak in the week following that quartet of triumphs – on the Karl Burke-trained pair Dramatised (Queen Mary Stakes) and Holloway Boy (Chesham Stakes), the Godolphin gelding Dubai Future, trained by Saeed bi Suroor (Wolferton Stakes) and David O’Meara’s Get Shirty (Copper Horse Stakes).
“It’s great – to do it on one of the biggest stages in the world. If you come away with a winner or two there it’s a great achievement. But four winners is unbelievable.” And that’s about as effusive as he will get about his feat, though he will add an appreciation of the grandeur of the stage itself: “It’s brilliant. An amazing track to ride, with that enormous crowd there as well. It’s an unbelievable feeling, to be honest, when you’re walking out on to the track before the race and then, if you win, walking back into that massive crowd. It’s just incredible. Such a thrill. Nothing like it.”
After a highly pressurised week of 19 rides at the Royal meeting, his following week’s work couldn’t have been in such a stark contrast. We speak after two rides had produced two second places at Beverley on a quiet Tuesday. And that was it for the day before his journey back to the home in Thirsk he shares with wife Kate and their three children.
We discuss the undefeated rising star Dramatised who, having scored by four lengths on her debut at Newmarket, emphatically justified favouritism over the minimum trip in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes – despite Tudhope dropping his whip. “Fortunately she was good enough, and knew her job. Her class got her through it. She was very impressive. Her work at home has been unbelievable as well.”
The filly’s likely next target is the Group 1 Prix Morny at Deauville or the Group 2 Lowther Stakes at York. “Obviously she’d have to step up a furlong (in both events), but that is possible,” says her rider. “She’s still learning and I’m pretty sure she’d get the six furlongs.”
Whether Dramatised will come to bear comparison with the O’Mearatrained Lord Glitters, the horse that yields the 36-year-old his most fondest memories, will be an exciting exploratory adventure for Tudhope.
The 2019 Queen Anne Stakes triumph was amongst the now nine-year-old gelding’s five victories for Tudhope – one of seven Group 1 wins in the career of a man who has also secured an Arlington Million (Mondialiste, 2016), the Prix de l’Abbaye (Laurens, 2018) and Sun Chariot (Move In Time, 2014)
He refers to these highpoints almost in passing. There’s certainly nothing of the big I am about this North Yorkshire-based rider. Celebrity rests uneasily on his shoulders. Three seasons ago, he vied with Oisin Murphy for the jockeys’ championship before the Irishman ultimately prevailed. I remind him that was probably just as well. How would he have coped with the attention? He takes it in good part.
The fact is that, while he may not possess the persona of a Dettori, Tudhope’s riding prowess is wildly acknowledged and he has made him increasingly a magnet for leading trainers.
When not riding for David O’Meara, to whom he has been stable jockey since 2011, he is also sought by
Newmarket power-houses, notably William Haggas and Saeed bin Suroor.
“William Haggas has been a great supporter of mine for a number of years,” says Tudhope. “He’s one of the best trainers I’ve ridden for. The information he gives you about his horses is just spot on. He’s a proper trainer and a great guy, and I love riding for him.”
Haggas was, of course, son-in-law of the late Lester Piggott – a name recognised well beyond the racing firmament, but one barely in the consciousness of Tudhope when he was raised on a council estate in Irvine, in North Ayrshire, a birthplace he shares, incidentally, with the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon.
“It’s a part of the world where nobody knows what being a jockey is,” says Tudhope. “When I was younger, if I told someone I was going to be a jockey, they’d just laugh at me.”
Not one of life’s most scholarly individuals – “I didn’t like school. I used to dodge it if I could. I had no education really” - it was his careers adviser who recommended a life in racing and, at 16, he left home and began a new life at the Northern Racing College.
“I knew absolutely nothing about racing. The only thing I knew was the Grand National, the biggest race in the world. If there was one jockey I admired at the time I started out it was Kieren Fallon. I used to idolise him. I just loved his style of riding.”
Tudhope made a propitious start, serving his apprenticeship at Declan Carroll’s yard, rode out his claim in two and a half years and partnered 160 winners in his first four full seasons.
But then the numbers dwindled until a nadir of just six winners in 2010. However, his career took off in earnest when he became David O’Meara’s stable jockey the following year.
“I got a lot of support from David, who was just getting going at the time, doing big things himself. We’ve kind of grown a bit together, me and David. Their first Group winner together, Blue Bajan in the Henry II Stakes at Sandown in 2011, sealed the deal. They have never looked back, and the Scot reflects: “I’ve had some good people behind me, like David. Obviously, you need the support. If you’re good enough, people will see that and back you. I’m in a good place right now.”
We talk targets. He aims for 100 winners a season, something he has achieved on five occasions in a 19-year career, the best 159 in 2019 and a win strike rate of 20 per cent. And you assume he still hankers after a jockeys’ title after being a serious challenger in 2019?
“I’d love to be champion obviously, but I can’t see it happening to be honest,” he says. “I’m happy doing what I’m doing. It was a great achievement finishing second.” He laughs. “I think that’s probably as good as it’s going to get for me.”
Weight is an issue for him. “I’m just under 5ft 8in and I do struggle with my weight,” he concedes. “It’s one of the tough parts of my life really, day in, day out. It’s a bit of a battle, to be honest.”
He adds: “They’ve taken the saunas away from us at the racetracks which I think is the wrong idea. But I do a lot of sweating in the bath tub. I try to eat healthily, but I don’t really eat much at all. It’s a hard life to live, when you’re travelling up and down the country. I live half my life in the car.”
But doesn’t lack of food affect his fitness? “Race-riding keeps you fit, you know,” he retorts. “That’s not a joke – that’s a fact. People say we’re athletes. We’re not athletes. In this game, the horses are the athletes. We ride horses to keep fit.”
Provided he remains injury-free (he’s had his share of breaks and bruises) it strikes you that Tudhope has many years remaining in his career. After all, Frankie Dettori and others are still riding at fifty-plus.
The Scot dismisses such a prospect. “There’s definitely no way I’ll be riding when I’m 50,” he responds. “I put a lot of pressure on myself. It’s a tough life that I live. I struggle with my weight. Will I be riding in my forties? I don’t think so, to be honest. I’m not sure how long I’ve got left in me, but we’ll keep going now while we’re going well.”
He reflects on how life has changed since the day he departed Irvine 20 years ago with the blessing of his mother Elizabeth, who died last year. “She’s the one who encouraged me to go and do something with my life,” Tudhope recalls. “She was very proud of me, followed me all the time and used to ring me every day I had rides.”
He adds: “When I left home it was very scary, to be honest. I was very young, quite small, and very immature as well. Moving away, not knowing anybody, meant it was a tough life for me really.” He pauses before adding: “I’ve definitely chosen the right path to follow.” You suspect that few trainers and his peers in the weighing room would not concur with that assessment.