ANOTHER week and I picked up another winner, this time on Centasia at Doncaster on Friday.
The victory came aboard the seven-year-old mare, who is owned by Roger Brookhouse.
It was my first win for the Brookhouse family, who carry a big name in jumps racing. As a freelance rider like myself, you need to work hard to ensure you stay at the front of the minds of such owners.
The difference between freelancers — as increasing numbers of jockeys are today — and those who ride under retainers is worth exploring. It was recently announced that Martin Harley would go it alone around a year after signing as a stable jockey to Marco Botti’s yard at Newmarket.
As a former champion apprentice, Martin will have plenty of clout and therefore should have few problems trying to build and maintain relationships with trainers in the future.
The same goes for Jamie Spencer, one of the most recent big-name riders for the Hays and who recently made a U-turn on his retirement plans to go freelance.
Jamie had initially decided to retire when he was told in the summer his retained contract with Qatar Racing, the big global players, would not be renewed next year. Meanwhile Jim Crowley has just announced he is going the other direction, and will ride for Mr and Mrs Hay.
Racing today can be a revolving door in that respect. A clear advantage of being retained exclusively by an owner or trainer is that you are offered a lump sum, or you’d reach an agreement on prize money. That could be anything from 20 grand to a million pounds, depending on who you’re riding for.However it doesn’t always work out.
Over my jumps career, I’ve tended to do a lot of work for both John Quinn and Neil Mulholland. Then a couple of seasons ago Emma Lavelle asked me to ride some of her horses on a regular basis. It was a mutual agreement, there was no contract and therefore I wasn’t strictly retained.
I took on a high volume of rides for Lavelle, but things didn’t work out. The work fizzled out after Christmas and it meant I was down the pecking order in terms of contacts I would have made during that period. Those contacts take time to build up again.
That said, the experience hasn’t put me off being retained by a trainer or owner and honestly I’d love the opportunity. There’d likely be less chasing rides all across the country and it could well offer the opportunity to prolong your career. It offers that extra security and greater opportunities for family time.
When freelancing, you’re forever trying to keep owners and trainers happy. There are a lot of hard-working jockeys in the same boat and in a way we’re all stepping on each other’s toes. Take last Saturday.
John Quinn asked me to ride Mr Gallivanter at Cheltenham. I had four rides at Doncaster, so had to get off them. Not that I regret my decision, but it opened up doors for Nick Schofield who rode a winner on Kashmir Peak, the same horse I would have rode at Doncaster.
I think it’s fair to say most freelancers would prefer to be signed up to a good yard with 50 plus horses. My own priorities have changed massively over the past five or six years. When I was younger, it was all work, work, work. I’d wake up at five, come home late at night and would watch replays to see where I could have improved. It started to take over my life and that’s a short route to a full-blown burnout.
Nowadays when I’m at home with my wife and young child, the mind drifts away into them instead of work all the time.
Back in the day, they used to say that a jump jockey who got married was finished. But times change. Now trainers realise when you’re a jockey, having a family and kids actually makes you more grounded. You want the best for them and that’s why it would be nice to have the security of a retainer. Your career could end next week if a horse flips over in the stalls, God forbid.
So it’s little wonder jockeys continue to eye lucrative opportunities abroad in places such as Dubai and Japan. If you’re the wrong side of 30 and are being offered the chance to take part in £2million races around the world, it’d be a very hard opportunity to turn down.
See More: Comment & Analysis, Freelance Rider, Retainer
