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Ryan Moore, just 26, has lifted the title for the past two years. If it was down to post-race interviews, opinion polls would probably give him a minus rating, but his instinctive ability in the saddle and the fact that he is retained by Sir Michael Stoute makes him favourite again.
But there with a rather more rakish hairstyle, a more relaxed personality than he has had for three years and a determination to make up for lost time, is the multiple past champion and Naughty Boy of British racing Kieren Fallon. He is determined at 45 to wrest back the title he last held in 2003 before drink problems, court cases and suspensions for recreational drug use intervened. Riding for Luca Cumani will give him a decent base and he insists, ‘If I get the rides, I will deliver.’
You can then add to that mix the housewives’ favourite Frankie Dettori, he of the famous ‘flying dismount’. Frankie last won the championship back in 2004 when riding 192 winners. This season he has signalled his readiness to compete by setting himself a target of 150 and starting early riding Mark Johnston’s horses before his own Godolphin yard gears up. ‘Frankie wants to be part of this,’ says Kieren.
Frankie, perhaps, is feeling just a little stimulated by the fact that his main employer, Sheikh Mohammed, is keen now to give a lift also to Dubaian-born Ahmed Ajtebi, who rode two winners on Dubai World Cup night in 2009.
But this isn’t just a competition between those who have won the title before. Into the mix, too, comes young William Buick, the choirboy-cheeked youngster of just 21, who celebrated his appointment as first jockey to John Gosden’s historic Clarehaven Stables, now the biggest team in Newmarket, by taking a £3 million race on this year’s Dubai World Cup night.
Brought up in Scandinavia, and the only jockey to speak four languages, young William dismisses talk of his chances but has been backed down from 25–1 to a 10–1 chance. Whatever happens this season, former trainer Ian Balding certainly looks like collecting on his £10 wager at 500–1, placed before Buick had ridden in public, that William would be champion before 2016.
Jamie Spencer, who shared the title with Seb Sanders in 2007 after an epic contest, is riding as well as ever, and while he doesn’t have a stable retainer he is riding for the increasingly impressive string being assembled by Jim and Fitri Hay. But there are two more names that should not be forgotten.
Richard Hughes is out at 14–1 for the championship. But he scored another century of winners last year, is free to take more opportunities now because he is no longer retained in the green and pink sash of Khalid Abdullah and has the pick of the rides for the prolific winner factory run in Wiltshire by the splendid what-you-see-is-what-you-get Richard Hannon. When the Queen visited the yard recently, she was said to have commented that it was nice for once to visit a stable that didn’t smell of new paint. And when her trainer had trouble opening the front door to admit the royal party he declared that it was not surprising…they only used it when she came visiting.
It will make for a fascinating contest this year. And there is one more whom I would add to the mix. Malton-based Paul Hanagan, now 27, has yet to ride a Group race winner. But there is no better rider in the north of England. After a flying start, he currently shares the lead in the jockeys’ table with 33 winners, and while the other big names are cutting each other’s throats down south he could well stack up a formidable total. Worth a look at 20–1.
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