PAT HEALY: Brand Ambassador Pat Healy looks back at some great headlines for the sport at the weekend. Five winners for Hollie Doyle at Windsor and a 2,000th career success for Jim Crowley.
Hollie Doyle
The majority of the headlines over the weekend were about Hollie Doyle, and rightfully so. To ride five winners at one meeting is a fantastic achievement and what she’s doing is really transcending racing. Her performances are moving racing from the sports pages over to the news pages which can only be a good thing for the sport.
She speaks brilliantly and comes across very well when she’s interviewed. She’s another member of this new breed of jockey who are aware of social media and its quirks and long may it continue because she’s a breath of fresh air. Hopefully she can continue her upward trajectory because it’s brilliant for the sport and based on that she deserves all the plaudits she’s getting.
In France, women riders are given a 2kg weight allowance up to Listed level and, although some feel that shouldn’t be the case as all jockeys should be treated equally, I just wonder if those rules were in place over here whether we’d get more female riders. It would certainly open up more opportunities for them and that surely can only be a good thing. I wonder if that rule change isn’t too far around the corner.
Some have said she could be a future Champion Jockey and if she stays fit and has a bit of luck, who knows? She has the ability and is clearly improving all the time, so who’s to say it won’t happen?
Jim Crowley
The other major talking point from the past few days was Jim Crowley’s fantastic achievement of riding his 2,000th career winner. He’s only 34, so providing he stays fit and healthy, the way Flat jockeys are going at the moment you’d think he’d have at least 10 years left in the saddle. Given that, he looks to hold pretty strong claims of reaching 3,000! It was great that he notched up the landmark at Goodwood which is his local track and he’s thoroughly deserving of such an accolade.
He’s just the sixth man who is currently riding to ride 2,000 winners so it’s a pretty elite club to be a member of and it just shows what can happen if you put the hard work in. In the past he was labelled a bit of ‘journeyman’ jockey and he’s dealt with the highs and lows and has got to where he is from great perseverance. He’s obviously got a great job being Sheikh Hamdan’s retained rider and it’s interesting that with Jim riding as well as he has been, this season has been Sheikh Hamdan’s best for quite some time.
