Richard Kingscote is far too nice. He is also a damn good jockey. And if people hadn't realised that before this year, they certainly do now.
The 36-year-old is no newcomer to racing's main stage but until this past season he had to a degree been cast as a reliable sidekick to leading actors such as Frankie Dettori and Ryan Moore. Dettori is one of only a few jockeys who is instantly identifiable by his first name alone, and in true 'Frankie style' the recent announcement of his retirement allows him a year-long celebratory tour that will doubtless be to the benefit of the sport, for Dettori is box office; a crowd-puller. Kingscote is quite the opposite, but only in personality, not when it comes to talent.
“I think that being introverted has probably made it that little bit harder to move my career forward,” he admits. “Because racing is the sort of sport where you have to integrate, you have to be involved with people. And I've noticed the last couple of years, particularly, the more outgoing people, the social people, are the people that get offered jobs and get moving forward just because they're out there. They're putting themselves out there, and I don't put myself out there a great deal.”
That could be about to change. In fact, in a way it already has. Kingscote's imminent departure for a winter riding stint in Florida came about from his recent trip to Bahrain, where he was runner-up in the G3 Bahrain International Trophy on Passion And Glory (Ire) for Godolphin.
He explains, “I was having a few drinks with someone and they said, 'Would you be interested in going to America?' Usually, as soon as I've finished I'd scurry off to my room and wouldn't be seen again. So just being that little bit more outgoing and putting myself in that position, I've been offered a stint in America. Maybe I need to learn to be a little bit more of a people person. Doors open because you're putting yourself there, where I never really have, whether that's just shyness or the way I am, I don't really know, but maybe it's something I ought to start looking into.”
I think that being introverted has probably made it that little
bit harder to move my career forward
Kingscote became a Group 1-winning jockey back in 2014 when guiding Brown Panther to glory in the Irish St Leger during his days as stable jockey to Tom Dascombe. He also hit the top level again in the G1 Flying Five aboard Havana Grey (GB), who is now one of the most exciting young sires in Britain. His riding career, which is now closing in on 20 years, has been peppered with stakes wins, but it was 2022 which can be considered his true annus mirabilis as the name Richard Kingscote was added to that special roll of honour reserved for jockeys to have triumphed at Epsom in the Derby.
Following his victory on Desert Crown (GB) he was quizzed about his relatively new association with one of the greatest Derby-winning trainers of all time, Sir Michael Stoute.
“We get on well because neither of us likes to talk much,” was his response, and it is easy to see why Kingscote has fitted in so well at Stoute's Freemason Lodge, proving a more than able addition to the riding ranks when Ryan Moore is fulfilling his obligations for Ballydoyle.
Desert Crown, who also won the G2 Dante S., has only ever been ridden in public by Kingscote, who has only twice partnered his second hugely significant winner of the year, Bay Bridge (GB). He won on the four-year-old on both occasions, including the G1 QIPCO Champion S., and it is easy to imagine the partnership remaining intact in the high-profile races which Bay Bridge will be contesting next year.
Explaining his growing connection with Stoute following his departure from Dascombe's former base of Manor House Stables in Cheshire, he says, “Tom and I were together for a long time and it was a difficult decision to move on from there. He'd supported me so much and I had a good job that a lot of lads would've loved, and I did. I liked working with Tom, we got on very well and I had the opportunity to get on some nice horses over the years.”
He continues, “But it's very difficult to get hold of those horses, and I was lucky to get an opportunity with Sir Michael. Over the last four or five years, I had the odd couple of rides and winners for Sir Michael, and maybe two or three years ago I asked if I was in Newmarket would I be able to pop in and ride out.
“I've never be one to push myself forward and try stepping on people's toes and I don't like to be forceful or pushy. So I would never have been there too much, but if I stayed [in Newmarket], they were happy to have me in. And then I think with Covid, Sir Michael and Ryan were quite aware that Ryan may not be able to travel back and forward from Ireland as much as in normal years. So I don't know how it went or why I was picked, but I was asked if I'd become more involved and obviously I was delighted about that. I think for any jockey to be involved with a yard like Sir Michael's is a privilege. It's a big deal.”
Despite Kingscote's rising profile, and his impending arrival at Gulfstream Park being announced in a press release from the racecourse, we still don't know a huge amount about the jockey. When this is pointed out to him as we speak just before Christmas, he replies, “There's not much to know. But that's all right.”
He continues, “I'm quiet and I'm private. I prefer to stay at home. I'm actually out tonight to William Buick's party and tomorrow I'm going to the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards. It's the first time I've been invited and now it's coming to it, I'd almost rather just stay at home, but I'm going anyway, because it's nice to be involved with those things; how often are you going to get invited to the Sports Personality of the Year? So I thought I'd give it a go.”
While he does undoubtedly keep a much lower profile than some of his weighing-room colleagues, Kingscote is an engaging interviewee. The only question he deflects is the unfair query as to which of Desert Crown or Bay Bridge he'd prefer to ride if he could only ride one (“I know which one it would be but it's not fair to say”) and he adds of his Derby winner, who is on the comeback trail from injury, “He's very exciting. I saw him about a month ago and he looks great. And he's got such a great temperament.”
Kingscote's most successful year numerically came in 2021 when he rode 128 winners, the fifth time he has reached three figures. In 2022 he is just shy of that mark on 98, and he has not ridden in Britain since signing off for a well-earned break with a winner at Lingfield on December 10. This year, however, has by any measure been his best yet on the racecourse.
“The Derby was surreal and it was huge,” he recalls, before adding modestly, “But my horse was a steering job, so I think winning at Ascot, not having just the one Group 1 this year but also having the second one, just really cemented it a little bit in being a very good year.
“We went to Ascot [on Champions Day] with no expectation as well, which was great, because Baaeed was such a strong favourite.”
He adds, “And it could well be a very exciting year with both of them staying in training.”
Now based not far from Lambourn, Kingscote grew up in the south-west of England in Weston-super-Mare and started riding as a 12-year-old. In his typically guileless fashion he admits that he was a complete outsider to racing.
I was just that far away from racing, I had absolutely no idea, but I just said I like riding horses and I like going fast so I'll be a jockey
“My mum got a pony and my brother and I started having riding lessons once a fortnight,” he says. “I didn't really like school and because I was little I said I'd like to be a jockey. I knew nothing about it, honestly, I'd never have even watched a Flat race in my life. But mum found out about the Newmarket [British] Racing School, and I did the nine-week course there. I was unbelievably green. I think Frankie was probably the only jockey I've ever heard of, even though [Kieren] Fallon had been multiple champion jockey. I was just that far away from racing, I had absolutely no idea, but I just said I like riding horses and I like going fast so I'll be a jockey, which was probably quite naive, but somehow we got there.”
What Kingscote is too modest to mention, of course, is that the getting there “somehow” didn't just happen but was the consequence of his own hard work and professionalism, as well as the talents which had become apparent once he started riding. Like many young riders, he found that his career seemed to be stalling once he had finished his apprenticeship with Roger Charlton but, heading up to Cheshire with Tom Dascombe when the latter accepted the job as trainer at Michael Owen's Manor House Stables, he steadily earned the respect of the racing community as one of the most hard-working, loyal and reliable jockeys in the game as he and Dascombe established themselves as a formidable partnership, particularly to be feared at their local track Chester.
Though Kingscote has steadily earned bragging rights, there is no hint of the arrogance that sometimes comes with the confidence needed to be a top-level sportsman. In fact, more than most people, he is only too aware of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that lurk in every life. Last year his younger brother Karl, who had been working at Denford Stud at the time, had a mountain-biking accident which has left him paralysed.
“Karl now lives with mum near Ffos Las,” he says. “We're still close even though he doesn't live 20 minutes away any more. One of our major hobbies is that we are both gamers. We speak almost every day, and we play together online. So we speak a lot still, which I think is quite good for him, and good for me as well.”
What has also been good for the jockey after the cut and thrust of the season is taking a proper break to spend some time with his wife Ashleigh and their two young children before he departs for America.
“It's hard to take time off as a jockey, particularly, obviously, in the summer it's just not the done thing,” he says. “So come the winter you ought to allow yourself a little bit of downtime and I often take things easier but still like to ride for my people. I've not ridden for a few weeks and I won't be riding until the new year.”
Frankie Dettori, who started his own American sojourn with three Boxing Day winners at Santa Anita, may have stolen his thunder but it is unlikely Kingscote will be complaining about that. In fact, despite his considerable success and experience, he appears to be approaching his forthcoming trip in mid-January with a degree of trepidation.
“Obviously I've been to a few Breeders Cups but it's my first proper stint riding anywhere else really, bar Australia when I was an apprentice. I think I'll be quite green about it all, to be honest,” he admits, his natural and unconscious modesty shining through as, from Gulfstream's point of view, they will be welcoming not the bit player which he still views himself as, but one of the highest-achieving jockeys in the world.
“I'm a bit nervous about it, but I am looking forward to it. Everyone seems quite excited that I'm going over. I did a radio show yesterday and all of a sudden got loads more American followers on Twitter.”
By the time he returns, Kingscote will likely have plenty more, for while he may not trumpet his own talents in the way in which an American audience will be more accustomed, he is certainly a rider to follow.
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