YOUNG JOCKEY MAKES FLYING START
BERKSHIRE-BASED Harry Davies has had a flying start to his career as a jockey, at just 17-years-old he took two wins from four rides in his first week of riding against the professionals.
No stranger to success, Davies previously achieved 28 wins on the Pony Racing circuit and was crowned winner of the Charles Owen Racecourse Series in 2018 and 2019. Now he has moved up into the horse racing ranks and has quickly proven his immense talent.
He had his first ride at Southwell on Tuesday, January 11 and quickly bounced back from his sixth position finish to find a winner a Lingfield with Coolagh Magic in the same week. Not resting on his laurels of enjoying his maiden win, Davies secured another victory three days later at Wolverhampton.
Speaking on his first win, Davies said: “I thought on the day the horse had a chance of going close. My instructions were to come late and thought I had left it too late, but he did it. When I pulled up, I thought
I’d won but I wasn’t completely sure, I just had to get back in one piece and wait for the tannoy. It was a really great atmosphere on the day and it was nice to have my mum and step-dad there.”
“Training is going really well, the whole team is so supportive, and Andrew [Balding] is very easy to work for. He understands my goals and what I want to achieve as well as what we want to achieve together. Even if I don’t ride a winner that day, I’ll come back and the other lads are there to lend a helping hand.
“I first started coming to Andrew’s [Balding] when I was 12 and try to show my face whenever I could, I would try to come down in the summer holiday and I really devoted all my time to being at Kingsclere. In my final year of pony racing I’d ridden out for Andrew a few times and I was ready to make the move [to horse racing].
Davies will still ride with a 7lb allowance for his next 18 winners but has made an impressive start to his apprentice jockey career.
He returned to Lingfield on Saturday for the inaugural
Winter Million where he raced against top jockeys such as Tom
Marquand and Hollie Doyle.
Davies continued: “They [Marquand and Doyle] are both obviously massive figures in the racing world. They both came from pony racing as well and they are where I want to be.
“Racing against them is great because you can learn so much. I saw Tom in the weighing room the other day and asked him to watch a race back with me and I learnt so much – it’s a dream come true.”