RIDING three winners in one day should not be beyond the compass of any professional jockey.
But it has taken me four years to follow up on an afternoon when I hit a hat-trick in Wetherby on Moonlight Drive, Wayward Prince and Distime.
For jockeys like me who are working across a number of yards, relying on spares, often driving hundreds of miles for one ride, the chances of riding a one-day treble have reduced even further since the last time I hit that mark.
Most days you will find yourself up against AP McCoy and Barry Geraghty, Jason Maguire and Richard Johnson and the yards of Nicky Henderson, Paul Nicholls and so on. Against firepower like that, in the saddle and out of the stable, the odds are stacked against you.
On my beat to take one at any meeting is a result; to take three for three different trainers in Kelso on Sunday… well, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was pretty pleased driving home.
At the beginning of the year, I gave my agent Dave Roberts a target of winners for the season and I have a footing to have a cut at it now at least.
Even though my personal circumstances have changed and my family has grown the workload hasn’t changed. I may even be going a bit harder. My wife would often say to me that I’d probably get through the same amount even if I dropped a gear but it is difficult to let up. When you hit three on a Sunday you feel the hard work is paying off.
There were so many elements to that trio. The first, Mr Gallivanter for John Quinn was hot favourite and a bit of a penalty kick but I had a tough call to make in the second where Big Sound was up against another horse I’ve ridden and won on before — the Tony Coyle-trained Silver Dragon.
Weighing it up I felt Big Sound was the better punt. Trained by Mark Walford, he was better suited to both track and distance. So it proved. With the double in I felt a pressure lift.
It would not be the case that my confidence would grow after riding a double. It would be more a feeling of relief.
What made the third winner, Local Present, so sweet was that I’d spoken to the trainer before about the horse and his ability, so there was a bit of fine tuning involved before I jumped on him for the last at Kelso.
The last time I did the trio I was knocking them in for Neil Mulholland; getting up in the morning looking at my mounts and telling myself ‘I’m definitely going to win on this lad today’. I hope the treble will jock me back up on that mindset.
