Whirlwind Year for Davies Ends with Winter in Bahrain

SAKHIR, Bahrain–It has been a big year for Harry Davies. Having made his first appearance under rules aboard Battered (GB) for Hugo Palmer at Southwell on January 11, Britain's fastest-rising apprentice is currently engaged in his first overseas riding job at the Bahrain Turf Club, where he is working for leading trainer Allan Smith. 

In the weighing-room, Davies is as fresh-faced as they come, but then that's no surprise as he is still only 17. In conversation, however, he has the maturity and quiet confidence of someone twice his age. That too should perhaps not be surprising. Though Davies was only granted his licence a year ago, he is no stranger to work-riding or race-riding. 

He started out at the tender age of 10, a mere slip of a boy using his innate skill rather than strength on Newmarket Heath while riding out for Hugo Palmer, to whom his mother Angie Shea is assistant trainer. From that precocious start, he was twice crowned pony racing champion in the UK, and was then taken under the wing of Andrew and Annalisa Balding at the fabled Kingsclere academy which has been so instrumental in the nascent careers of current champion jockey William Buick and former treble champion jockey Oisin Murphy, among others. 

As the 2022 season rumbled into gear in Britain it wasn't long before trainers started muttering Davies's name in quiet awe and swiftly booking him for rides as his claim dropped from seven to five to three faster that you can say future champion jockey. 

On a coffee break after riding work for Smith on the eve of Bahrain's biggest race day on Friday, Davies explains his presence at Sakhir racecourse. He says, “The plan was just to come away for the winter, to save my claim, get a little bit of experience elsewhere and just learn as much as I can really. The plan was originally to go to Australia, however that fell through with my visa as I'm only 17. But Bahrain accepted me and I'm very thankful to Shaikh Isa and to Mr Smith for taking me on over here and giving me some nice opportunities. I've learned a lot, they're great people and I'm really enjoying it.”

By the opening day of the turf season back at home last March, Davies was given the leg-up from Charlie Appleby in the Godolphin blue silks to ride Modern News (GB) in the Lincoln, and by May, when he was closing in on 20 winners, he was already being talked about as a champion apprentice contender. In fact, the championship went to his chief rival, Benoit de la Sayette, who was apprenticed to John and Thady Gosden, but Davies has to date ridden 67 winners in Britain in a year he won't forget in a hurry and which included riding in the royal colours of her late Majesty the Queen.

“I love nothing more than race riding,” he says. “To have the first year I had was unbelievable really and I never expected it to go how it did. And hats off to Benoit, he's a fantastic young rider who's very, very talented and it was just great to have that competition there. I enjoyed every minute of it, even though it was very stressful along the way. But I learned so much, not just about race riding, but about myself this year, and I can't wait to go again when I start riding again, probably in late March.”

With just 27 wins permitted before he loses his claim, Davies is being wisely guarded by his boss and is full of praise for the Balding team as well as Hugo Palmer, who played such a key role in his formative years. Though the young jockey is not in contact with his father, the former champion apprentice Stephen Davies, he has also been able to lean on sterling help from both his mother and stepfather Phil Shea, who is also his agent.

“I grew up on a horse essentially,” he recalls. “It was all I ever did as a kid, just ride ponies and horses. In Newmarket I started riding out for Mr Palmer before school and he gave me a lot of fantastic opportunities. Then I started riding out for my boss, Mr Balding, when I was probably 12 or 13 in the summer holidays. I'd go there for a couple of weeks at a time and get to know the crew there and I absolutely loved it at Kingsclere. I got my grades in school and left when I had just turned 16. I started living in the [Kingsclere] hostel and made some great friends and never really looked back.”

He continues, “We had a great conversation just before I came out here about using the rest of my claim to the best of its worth, and the vision is very much to get experience. In a sense it's half a working holiday. You've got the sunshine, it's a completely different way of training and riding here, and it's a nice change of scenery for me.

“I've been here for a few weeks now and from what I've done so far, I've absolutely loved it, but it's very important that I get back on the yard, get to know the young horses for next season and spend some time with the guys in the yard. That's very important, so I'll be heading back home in mid-December.”

Prior to that, Davies, who has had two rides so far for Smith and will partner the Aga Khan-bred Rayounpour (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) for him in the Batelco Cup on Friday, will make the most of the opportunities that his sojourn offers, including riding alongside Paul Hanagan, who is another to be wintering in Bahrain. 

The former champion jockey was uncharacteristically punchy in his criticism of some of the riding on display at tracks in Britain in an interview earlier this season, which may or may not be in Davies's mind when he says, “The older jockeys are always there to mould you as a jockey because they can see that you're going to be in the weighing-room for a while and it's important to teach you along the way. So that's great when you get that. The weighing-room is a very busy place, but sometimes it can be quite lonely as well, and you find a lot of things out about yourself along the way. 

“I've only had two rides here and I've loved it really. It's just been great to see the different culture, because in England [the racing] is every single day and it never stops. So when one day's racing is done, you're immediately looking at tomorrow's meeting and don't have much time to reflect. And that's what I've done since I've been here, trying to reflect on the season and trying to improve myself, not only as a jockey, but as a person really. I think that the quieter time has been very good for me.”

Davies's words, uttered at such a relatively young age, call to mind Rudyard Kipling's rather more famous words: 'If you can keep your head while all about you are losing theirs'. He has already proved that he has a cool and calculating head when it comes to race-riding. Facing the pressures that will surely come with his mounting fame will be a challenge of a different sort, but Davies appears to be in the best hands to help him with that along the way, not least his own.

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‘Dream Come True’: Two-Time Pony Racing Champion Harry Davies Enjoys Flying Start To Professional Jockey Career

Berkshire-based Harry Davies has had a flying start to his career as a jockey, at just 17-years-old he took two wins from four rides in his first week of riding against the professionals.

No stranger to success, Davies previously achieved 28 wins on the Pony Racing circuit and was crowned winner of the Charles Owen Racecourse Series in 2018 and 2019. Now he has moved up into the horse racing ranks and has quickly proven his immense talent.

He had his first ride at Southwell on Jan. 11 and quickly bounced back from his sixth position finish to find a winner a Lingfield with Coolagh Magic in the same week. Not resting on his laurels of enjoying his maiden win, Davies secured another victory three days later at Wolverhampton.

Speaking on his first win, Davies said: “I thought on the day the horse had a chance of going close. My instructions were to come late and thought I had left it too late, but he did it. When I pulled up, I thought I'd won but I wasn't completely sure, I just had to get back in one piece and wait for the tannoy. It was a really great atmosphere on the day and it was nice to have my mum and step-dad there.”

The two-time Pony Racing champion appears destined for success, coming from strong racing roots combined with his own passion and determination. His father Stephen was Champion Apprentice jockey in 1994 while working for the great Sir Henry Cecil's yard and his mother Angie works as assistant trainer at Palmer's Newmarket stable.

The 17-year-old now rides at the famed Andrew Balding stable, Kingsclere, that has been integral in launching the career of racing stars such as Oisin Murphy, William Buick and David Probert, but none of these top flat jockeys can say they had their first win from only their second ride.

Davies continued: “Training is going really well, the whole team is so supportive, and Andrew [Balding] is very easy to work for. He understands my goals and what I want to achieve as well as what we want to achieve together. Even if I don't ride a winner that day, I'll come back and the other lads are there to lend a helping hand.

“I first started coming to Andrew's [Balding] at 12-years-old and try to show my face whenever I could, I would try to come down in the summer holiday and I really devoted all my time to being at Kingsclere. In my final year of pony racing I'd ridden out for Andrew a few times and I was ready to make the move [to horse racing].

Commenting on making the step up, Davies added: “One of the differences from pony racing is that the professionals are harder to race against. You have to race a lot tighter, have to be sharper and on your toes. You have to prepare by watching racing as much as can when you're not racing, really watch and pick it apart. Watch the top riders and think, why are they doing that? And try to learn. You can't overthink when you're in the [race] situation, you need to go with your gut and trust yourself.”

Davies will still ride with a 7lb allowance for his next 18 winners but has made an impressive start to his apprentice jockey career.

He returned to Lingfield on Saturday for the inaugural Winter Million where he raced against top jockeys such as Tom Marquand and Hollie Doyle.

Davies added: “They [Marquand and Doyle] are both obviously massive figures in the racing world. They both came from pony racing as well and they are where I want to be.

“Racing against them is great because you can learn so much. I saw Tom in the weighing room the other day and asked him to watch a race back with me and I learnt so much- it's a dream come true.”

Davies will look to continue his outstanding start to life against the pros, which equates to two wins from seven rides, on Wednesday at Kempton Park in the Unibet Extra Place Offers Every Day Fillies' Handicap (7pm), where he will ride the Archie Watson-trained Notoriously Risky.

The post ‘Dream Come True’: Two-Time Pony Racing Champion Harry Davies Enjoys Flying Start To Professional Jockey Career appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Emma Balding’s Love Of Foraging For Yearlings

There is much to admire about the team at Kingsclere, especially during a season when Andrew Balding has been in or near the top spot of the trainers' table throughout. But one particularly admirable facet to the Balding stable is in its sourcing of young stock at the yearling sales. 

Key to that process are the trainer's mother, Emma Balding, and Kingsclere's racing manager, Tessa Hetherington.  The duo can regularly be spotted forming an advance party on the sales grounds, sifting through the catalogue to ensure that they are left only with the most promising raw ingredients. Last year's efforts have been rewarded with two highly successful juveniles in particular, in the G2 Coventry S. winner Berkshire Shadow (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and the listed winner and Group 2 runner-up Masekela (Ire) (El Kabeir).

“What we have tended to do over the last couple of years is that Tess and I try and get two days ahead of the game, and she starts one end, I start the other and, time allowing, we look at each other's short lists, and leave on or off,” says Balding, whose success as a breeder and contribution to the bloodstock industry was recently recognised with the highest TBA award, the Andrew Devonshire Bronze.

She continues, “Now, she and I have completely different eyes and Tess has spotted some really good horses. She just likes a different type, and she's done a lot more around the showing world, so there are things that she notices which I just don't notice. And equally, there are some things that I notice that she doesn't.

“We both have this fault that if we're blown away by something, we don't actually notice the faults. But then Andrew then looks at our longer short lists and makes the short list, and he's far more looking at the page. We try to do it not looking at the page too much, but looking at the individual.”

While Kingsclere is well populated with smart homebreds from large owner/breeders and some expensive purchases from elsewhere, it is notable that those yearlings selected by Balding and Hetherington are invariably relatively inexpensive purchases, even if they have emanated from the more select sales. The aforementioned Berkshire Shadow and Masekela cost a total of 70,000gns, from Tattersalls October Books 1 and 2 respectively. In previous TDN interviews, those horses' owners, Paul Spickett and Mick and Janice Mariscotti, have been fulsome in their praise for the part Emma Balding plays in finding their runners.

“I had a very good mentor, which was Andrew's mum, who told me in no uncertain terms not to spend too much money,” said Spickett at Royal Ascot after accepting the trophy for Berkshire Shadow's victory. The Balding team also bought Spickett's St Leger runner-up and listed winner Berkshire Rocco (Fr) (Sir Percy {GB}) for €50,000 from the Goffs Orby Sale.

The Mariscottis are enthusiastic participants at the sales alongside the Baldings, with recent purchases including the G2 Queen's Vase winner Dashing Willoughby (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) and G1 Caulfield Cup hopeful Le Don De Vie (GB) (Leroidesanimaux {BRZ}), bought respectively for 70,000gns and 50,000gns. Both have subsequently been either sold or part-sold at a healthy profit to Australian connections, which Balding attests can be a huge advantage in the purchase of staying-bred yearlings.

“There's also the secondhand value as jumpers. You've got it both ways really,” she says.

Balding has plenty of praise for the work of others at the sales, pointing to the thorough job done by the team behind Peter and Ross Doyle, which includes Anna Doyle and Carol Tinkler. She also singles out Eve Johnson Houghton as being a particularly good judge of a horse. 

She herself has no plans to take it easy when it comes to pounding the tiring sales beat, which she has enjoyed for decades, first alongside her husband Ian and later assisting her son.

“We were very lucky in the early days because Ian trained mostly homebreds and didn't have to buy many horses,” she says. “But those he did, the owners very much wanted him to buy them. And fine, if you're used to using an agent, and Andrew is much, much better with agents than Ian was. But people in the old days, they just said, 'This is the budget. I'd like to know what your short list is, but just go and do it'. And they never turned up at the sale. So you weren't having to try and explain to them why you liked something.”

Balding continues, “Mick and Janice are great and they do more work on the catalogue probably, but both they and Paul allow you to put horses up to them and for you to justify why you've put them up rather than the other way around. And of course, that makes it so much easier. They don't mind first-season sires, they don't mind you buying horses that have got staying pedigrees. So it enables you to get the better bargains.”

That lack of constraint is a freedom which some agents do not have, as Balding acknowledges. 

“I think it is difficult for agents,” she says. “I'm hopeless in that I cannot look through the catalogue and turn down pages. Tess has been extremely instrumental in the last six or seven years but the only way I feel I'm doing reasonable work on the catalogue is to try and look at as many horses as I can. And they don't have to be big consignors, I don't mind first foals, I don't mind late foals. I don't mind so many different things, but I just cannot do that bit of turning down pages.”

Even with an open mind and book, Balding has certain likes and dislikes, and is quick to stress the importance of temperament.

“Personally, I'm not a heavy shoulder person, and heavy shoulder, back of the knee is an absolute no-no for me,” she explains. “But the thing that taught me the biggest lesson of the lot was going out to the Hong Kong international day many years ago now, and seeing all those Group 1 horses walking around in the morning, going out and doing whatever work they were doing, and seeing how few were perfect.”

Balding continues, “And if you like something, forgive the fault. Mark Johnson's a great one for knowing what faults to forgive with his veterinary cap on. And you sort of know what can be trained on your own gallops. But it isn't an exact science, and anybody who pretends it is, is living on a different planet to me. There is so much luck involved.”

She adds, “If they aren't too doped, you can tell quite a bit about temperament, and you can tell their attitude when they are coming in and out of their box and doing all the boring bits. You can still just tell what their mind is like. When you're rattling around, you're sort of always looking out the corner of your eye when you're moving onto the next one, to just see how the one you've just seen is going back in the box. And temperaments can come right but if they're upset by the sale, they're going to be upset the first time they go to the races, aren't they?”

As Balding speaks to TDN she has just completed the Tattersalls Ireland September Sale in Newmarket, at which the team from Kingsclere signed for 10 yearlings, and is preparing for a busy couple of weeks back in the town for the Tattersalls October Sale.

“I absolutely love it,” she says. “I don't mind going home before the actual sale starts, but the foraging I love, and just seeing the horses and the people. Some of them meet the horses at the sales, but quite a few of them have been with them for months and it is quite fun talking to them. I hate selling horses myself, absolutely hate it. So I really admire the personalities involved that don't mind doing it.”

And she has a valid reason for continuing her trawling of the sales grounds in that it is vital in informing her decisions when it comes to the mating plans for her mares at Kingsclere Stud.

She notes, “I said to Andrew a few years ago, 'Please, please don't stop me looking, because it's the only way I can decide what stallions I'm going to use next year.' I think if you see the type they're producing you have a little bit of an idea of what shape you want to go for, as well as temperaments, and the new stallions, and the third-season stallions, which are probably the ones I can afford as they have come down in price a bit. You're getting a bit of an idea of whether they're maintaining their stock or whether you do want to risk using them when they haven't quite hit the jackpot yet.” 

Balding has certainly done her homework well. She rarely uses expensive or obviously fashionable stallions, and in Ka Ying Star (GB) and Ranch Hand (GB) she has bred the top-rated runners by Cityscape (GB) and Dunaden (Fr) respectively. More notably and certainly satisfyingly, Kingsclere Stud has also bred the best runners by two former stars of the Kingsclere stable in the Group 1 winners Side Glance (GB) (Passing Glance {GB}) and Elm Park (GB) (Phoenix Reach {Ire}). Side Glance's sire was also a Group 2-winning Balding homebred whose first two dams and their sires Robellino and Mill Reef were also trained at Kingsclere.

Despite such success, and her service to breeding and racing as a trustee of the TBA and founder member of the Retraining of Racehorses charity, Balding still expresses some surprise at her recent prestigious award. 

She says, “When I look at all the names on the bronze, I mean, those people have contributed so much to the industry. Kirsten [Rausing] and going back to Nat Frieze, some amazing people. So I was unbelievably flattered.”

Few in the business will disagree with the decision to bestow such an honour on Emma Balding, whose tireless work behind the scenes  at home and on the sales beat continues to be a fundamental part of the success of the Kingsclere operation.

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