I ride out six days every week without a doubt, I don’t usually ride on a Sunday. I am up each day at 5.30am and at work by 6.00am. I ride out at Lambourn five times a week and at Richard Hannon’s in Malborough once a week.
Hollie Doyle
Like all jockeys I am busy riding out, exercising the horses in the mornings and then depending on when I get back, I can sometimes have an hour or two at home and then go racing – it could be a day meeting, night meeting or in the peak of the season during the summer it could be both. On days with double meetings you are flat out throughout the day and then you can end up getting back pretty late at night. With the All-Weather racing, the last race can be as late as 8.30pm so there can be some quite late finishes.
In the peak of the season I was having about 100 rides a month, so it is non-stop. It has been a very busy season and though the Flat season is coming to end with QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on 19th October it never really stops. You always think that with winter coming it will slow down but I stay in the UK for the winter and continue you to ride out for my boss Archie Watson, whereas a lot of other Flat Jockeys don’t ride out at home and race overseas. In our yard we have a lot of horses for the All-Weather so not a lot changes. Sometimes during the winter, you go racing later in the day as there are less days with two meetings.
I have had a great season so far which feels amazing, I wouldn’t have ever imagined for things to have gone this well. I think one of the main things for me this year is that I haven’t had a fall, I have had a setback for the past three years in terms of injury so have missed a few weeks of the year which makes a big difference. Whereas this year I have been fortunate not to have an injury that has side lined me, which has given me a clean run with an opportunity for more rides. The connection with Archie Watson has been really good for me too, I have had lots of rides.
The approach to female jockeys has changed massively over the past few years, people are having realisations that if given the opportunity female jockeys are just as good. There are many successful female jockeys on the scene now and this is only going to increase. I am really looking forward to riding at QIPCO British Champions Day with jockeys at the top of their game with world-class horses. I will be riding in the in the Balmoral Handicap (Sponsored By Qipco) on Glen Shiel, trained by Archie Watson.
On a day when I am not racing at all or not racing in the evening I will try and go to Oaksey House for an hour or so after I have ridden out to get in the gym for a bit. As jobs go it is quite full on, when I get the odd day off and I have been looking forward to it, I find myself sat twiddling my thumbs and watching the racing – so I may as well be there! It is a special sport and job in that sense, you really do live and breathe it, but I think that is what makes it so great for everyone involved, not just us jockeys.
As a jockey you cover many miles each week to and from racecourses. It is hard to put a number on how many miles I cover in a week or even month, though I know when I bought my car it had 15,000 miles on it just over a year ago and now it is on 190,000.
I can’t imagine myself doing anything else, I have wanted to be a jockey for so many years. I used to want to be a vet when I was very young, but I think that had I not pursued my dream to be a jockey I would have found myself working in the racing industry in some way or another.
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