I want Ascot dream again
HOLLIE DOYLE
WHAT a difference a year makes.
Twelve months ago, Hollie Doyle went to Royal Ascot as a 23-year-old jockey on the way up.
Now she’s firmly established among the elite of her craft.
“It set me off for the year,” is how Doyle describes her first victory at the most celebrated five days of horse racing, a 33-1 success aboard the Alan King-saddled Scarlet Dragon in the Duke of Edinburgh Handicap last June.
“I hadn’t had a huge amount of rides there and I felt like I’d only just got going, but it’s something I’d dreamt about for so long.
“It was a massive thrill – a massive privilege.
“A lot of jockeys have to wait an awful long time to ride a winner at Royal Ascot, so it was unreal.”
The Herefordshire-born jockey’s career momentum took off from there.
Four months later, Doyle returned to Ascot for the aiming to dethrone threetime richly-endowed QIPCO champion Stradivarius British Champions Day. – himself a tailed-off
She partnered the first 12th of 13 at Ascot in the Group 1 winner of her life autumn – in the Gold Cup – boss Archie Watson’s on Ladies’ Day.
Glen Shiel in the British The five-year-old is a 7-1 Champions Sprint. chance for the fixture’s
And for good measure, feature race on Thursday, she took the riders’ yet to be captured by a honours for the seven-race female jockey. card, having also driven Doyle and Trueshan Scarlet Dragon’s stablemate suffered their first defeat Trueshan to a sevenand-a-half-length together with a threequarter-length triumph second to in the Group Royal Ascot win the Aidan 2 Long Distance was a massive O’Brientrained Cup. thrill, something Japan
A total of I had dreamt of in the Group 3 151 winners Ormonde for the calendar year was Stakes at 35 more than the previous Chester last month. total for a female on the But the runner-up was Flat – her own tally set in conceding 5lb to a horse 2019. with the top-level Grand
It was recognised by a Prix de Paris at podium finish at the BBC ParisLongchamp and Sports Personality of the Juddmonte International Year night and three gongs, at York on his CV. including Jockey of the And Doyle reflects: Year, awarded by her peers “That was an impressive at the ‘Lesters’ ceremony run for his first start back. in December. “Japan is a dual Group 1
Trueshan and Glen Shiel winner and we were giving are back on the royal heath him weight – and this week, the former Trueshan has beaten
Stradivarius before.” The Gold Cup’s two-and-a-halfmile distance is uncharted territory but Doyle adds: “I don’t see why he wouldn’t stay. He’s bred to do the job and the further I was going over two miles at Ascot, the better.”
With 82 winners on the board this year, including a five-timer at Kempton Park in March – repeating the same feat from Windsor last August – Doyle tops the riders’ table for 2021.
“I’m under no illusions that things aren’t going to happen every year like they did last year, but I’m so happy with the way things are going,” she smiles.
New Year’s Eve in 2020 also saw her engagement to fellow jockey Tom Marquand, himself a two-time winner on the Champions Day card.
But there’s no sound of wedding bells just yet.
“We’re both highly focused on riding,” says Doyle.
“It sounds bad but we don’t have time for it!”
ROBERTO ESCOBARR earned a 12-1 quote for the Sky Bet Ebor at York on August 21 with a gritty win on the Knavesmire.
After watching Tom Marquand’s mount fight to a length-and-a-quarter margin in the Listed Sky Bet Race To The Ebor Grand Cup, trainer William Haggas’ wife Maureen said: “Hopefully he’ll be one of those that keeps improving.”
Henry de Bromhead, fresh from saddling the winners of the Champion Hurdle, Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National in 2021, will break new ground with his first Group 1 runner on the Flat in Britain when Flirting Bridge contests the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot on Friday.