The story of the first 16 years of Rob Hornby’s life suggests he was always likely to end up a jockey. A jump jockey, to be precise, since he was born in Southport, near the famous “Red Rum” beach, and later moved to a farm in Shropshire, where his spare time was spent pony-clubbing, hunting and show jumping. “My nan was a keen racegoer but it was all National Hunt,” he says. “So I was always watching jump racing, and never really the Flat. I thought it was a bit boring.”
Fast-forward to 2023 and his immediate future in Flat racing could scarcely be more compelling. Hornby will be aboard Westover, the third-favourite, in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on Sunday, the showpiece event of the European season and the race, alongside the Derby, every jockey dreams of winning when they set out as an apprentice.
It could be a career-defining moment for the 28-year-old, whose path to this point has been the typical jockey’s mix of highs, lows, hard graft and occasional sliding-door moments like the evening at Kempton Park in early 2019, when a jockey was taken ill shortly before a ride for Ralph Beckett, Westover’s trainer, and Hornby picked up the spare.
“I got on it and won,” he says between rides at a similarly low-key meeting at Lingfield this week. “I think Ralph part-owned the horse and I gave it quite a good ride. It hadn’t won for ages and it was an older horse that was set in its ways and needed everything to go right and it did.”
Before long, Hornby was riding regularly for Beckett while also maintaining a longstanding association with Andrew Balding. The season after an apprentice has ridden out their claim is where many promising careers begin to stall, but Hornby was able to kick on instead. “One thing I always had in mind was to surround myself with the best people that you possibly can,” he says. “Going to the Baldings at 16 was the start of that.
“I was a pretty slow burner [as an apprentice]. Six weeks after I arrived, Oisin Murphy [now a three-times champion jockey] rocked up, then about two weeks after, Kieran Shoemark and Dan Muscutt turned up at the door.
“I went there quite green, I wasn’t sharp in terms of knowing the racing world. Riding was more eventing and show jumping, not sticking your stirrups short and getting your arse in the air. So that helped with Oisin being there, he was very sharp on his racing.
“But nothing happened instantly. I had to chip away. I’d be going up north for two or three days and staying on a mattress in a friend’s attic. Thinking back now, it was a real slog, but it was something I had to do to get the exposure and the winners.”
Hornby briefly lost the ride on Westover last summer to Colin Keane, Ireland’s champion jockey, but he was back aboard for last year’s Arc, his first ride in the race, when Westover finished sixth. “I’ve never known an atmosphere like it,” he says. “I’ve been to Cheltenham on the first day of the Festival and the roar of the crowd was a match for that. You could hear it as soon as the stalls opened.”
There will be “quite an entourage” of family and friends to support him at Longchamp. “They had such a good time last year that I think they’d still be going if I wasn’t riding in it,” he says. “And I probably would too, because it was such a fantastic atmosphere.”
But once the stalls open, he will be “in the zone” on a horse he feels has improved significantly since last year’s run. “He’s got a lot of personality and it’s a real joy to ride a horse that enjoys their job so much.
“Someone told me a while ago that pressure is a privilege and it really is. When you have that feeling of excitement and looking forward to races, it makes you feel human and it’s why you do it. It makes all the hard work worth it in the end.”
Shuwari stands out at Newmarket
Ollie Sangster has made a promising start to his training career at the famous Manton estate in Wiltshire and the unbeaten Shuwari (3.00) could provide him with a first success at Group Two level in the Rockfel Stakes at Newmarket on Friday.
Shuwari beat Fallen Angel, a subsequent Group One winner in the Moyglare Stud Stakes, on her latest start at Sandown in July, when she battled well to secure a half-length success having been headed inside the final furlong. Ylang Ylang, a disappointing favourite for the Moyglare, is an interesting runner for Aidan O’Brien but Shuwari has obvious scope for improvement and is worth backing to extend her unbeaten record.
Newmarket: 1.50 Ameynah, 2.25 Novakai, 3.00 Shuwari (nb), 3.35 Maljoom, 4.10 Al Shabab Storm, 4.45 Broadway Act, 5.20 Tregony, 5.55 Real Gain (nap).
Haydock: 2.00 Barney’s Angel, 2.35 Marie Ellen, 3.10 Avoriaz, 3.45 Hedge Fund, 4.20 Flower Of Dubai, 4.50 Lucky’s Dream, 5.25 Pearl Eye.
Worcester: 2.15 Broadway Boy, 2.50 Chess Player, 3.25 Mylesfromwicklow, 4.00 Young Merlin, 4.30 Stamina Chope, 5.05 Getaway Tom.
Newcastle: 4.55 Unplugged, 5.30 Moon Flight, 6.00 Roshambo, 6.30 Merry Secret, 7.00 Bernie The Bear, 7.30 Zapphire, 8.00 Showmedemoney, 8.30 Blackcurrent.
Newmarket 1.50: The favourite has not won this fillies’ Listed event since it was upgraded from handicap status in 2011 and this looks like another very open renewal. John and Thady Gosden field two likely candidates in Queen For You and Coppice but the lightly-raced Ameynah catches the eye further down the list. Roger Varian’s four-year-old is making only the sixth start of her career, but ran a fine race to finish just three lengths off the winner in last year’s 1,000 Guineas and would be a serious player at around 9-1 if anywhere close to that form.
Newmarket 2.25: Novakai was the runner-up behind Soul Sister, the subsequent Oaks winner, in the Musidora Stakes in May and ran with credit behind Warm Heart at Group One level last time. This drop back to Group Three company, albeit in a very competitive heat, could see a return to winning form.
Newmarket 3.35: A long-delayed return to action for Maljoom, who looked most unfortunate to surrender his unbeaten record when fourth in last year’s St James’s Palace Stakes. His 472-day absence since is an obvious concern, but he showed top-class acceleration at the royal meeting and could be a fascinating late contender for the autumn’s Group Ones over a mile.
