KINGSGATE NATIVE<\/a> \u201cWithout doubt my best Royal Ascot winner. It was very special. I met Chris Richardson of Cheveley Park in the car park after racing with my agent and that\u2019s how the ride came about. They\u2019d bought a stake in him and had just run him in the King\u2019s Stand. He hadn\u2019t run great but they did think he\u2019d come on a bundle for it.<\/p>\n \u201cThey weren\u2019t going to run him in the Jubilee because they were worried he wouldn\u2019t stay but as fate would have it decided to back him up and take their chance. I\u2019d ridden a lot for Cheveley Park so it was great to get the chance, but I didn\u2019t give him a great ride to be honest.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot went wrong, especially in the first half of the race. He was keen and I couldn\u2019t get the cover I wanted. It was only because I didn\u2019t really know him and didn\u2019t realise he could take as fierce a tug as he did. For the first three furlongs I was absolutely cursing myself but the last three were pretty good.<\/p>\n \u201cHe showed a hell of a lot of mettle but it was more a grind out than a real quicken. Whether they cooked themselves on the front end I don\u2019t know but 100 yards from the line I was well on top. It was great. I\u2019d basically just won the Jubilee on a spare. To come into the winner\u2019s enclosure, meet the Queen and everything that went with the occasion will stay with me forever.<\/p>\n \u201cOn his day he was one of the best sprinters around. He won the Nunthorpe at two as a maiden, remember. When you think that I didn\u2019t get a lot right at Ascot yet still beat those great Aussie sprinters War Artist and Takeover Target so easily. He was one of those sprinters who did what he wanted on the day. It was up to him and how he felt.<\/p>\n \u201cI was confident I\u2019d win the July Cup on him a few weeks later. I now knew how to get the best out of him after Ascot but he just didn\u2019t turn up. He was the first one beat. I couldn\u2019t blame it on the track. If he was up for it, he was one of the best but that day he just wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the year I became champion apprentice and he was my first Royal Ascot winner, claiming three pounds. Trained by Reg Akehurst, he was a straightforward horse who also gave me my first Pattern win, but he was better with cut in the ground and it was quick going that day. He was drawn slap bang in the middle and I went far side and won by five lengths on my side, which takes some doing in a big sprint handicap. The next three home were all drawn high so the tactic paid off handsomely.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew he was really well as I\u2019d ridden him in a \u2018prep\u2019 run at Newmarket, but we didn\u2019t necessarily think he\u2019d win the Wokingham. That was down to his trainer, who was as good as anyone at plotting handicaps. His horses were always fighting fit and stayed well and he was an uncomplicated man to ride for.<\/p>\n \u201cI owed Reg a lot because what he taught me stood me in good stead for the rest of my career. His philosophy for riding those quirky southern tracks alike Ascot, Sandown and Brighton was brilliant. He taught me when and how to attack a race and it very rarely went wrong if you stuck to the basics. He defined the way I rode for the rest of my career.<\/p>\n \u201cThat day at Royal Ascot was the first time I met Julian Wilson, the legendary BBC broadcaster and racehorse owner. Julian became a great mate to me and he was instrumental in my Royal Ascot winner for Lady Herries nearly 10 years later.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n WUNDERWOOD<\/a> \u201cJulian was racing manager to owner Tony Perkins who had a lovely horse called Wunderwood in training with Lady Anne. I\u2019d been riding quite a lot for her and won a race at Newmarket on him a couple of weeks earlier, beating a horse called Alkaased, who went on to win the Japan Cup for Luca Cumani.<\/p>\n \u201cI hadn\u2019t been a regular at the Royal Meeting as I was usually off to places like Catterick and Ripon in the north for my boss Sir Mark (Prescott). I was happy going to places like that to ride winners rather than be at Ascot for one ride on a 33-1 shot. Riding winners was everything to me.<\/p>\n \u201cWunderwood was different, though \u2013 a smart horse with a big chance. I had the perfect trip round and he was just full of running when they turned in and absolutely hosed it. If they\u2019d have locked me away I\u2019d have still been confident I would have found a gap at some stage. He was just push button that day and made my life very easy.<\/p>\n \u201cI went back to Ascot and won another nice race on him the following month. Tony (Perkins) went on to have a horse with Ralph Beckett called Asaint Needs Brass which is actually an anagram of my name. I won on him first time out at Kempton.\u201d<\/p>\n JUNIOR<\/a> \u201cHis win in the Ascot Stakes was one of the top five rides of my career. In fact, I\u2019m blowing my own trumpet but it\u2019s one of the best front-running rides you\u2019ll ever see.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I went out to meet the trainer David Pipe, his father Martin asked me how good I was from the front. My response was: \u2018I\u2019m one of the best\u2019, so he told me to go out there all make all. I knew the time of day because I\u2019d been doing it for my old boss Bryan McMahon, Reg and Sir Mark Prescott for years. I\u2019d been on the clock from the age of 16 so knew my fractions.<\/p>\n \u201cJunior wasn\u2019t always the sharpest away so I had to work my hardest in the first furlong to get where I wanted to be. As it happened they let me off by five or six lengths, which surprised me a little. Some jockeys are afraid to go too quick, especially over 2m4f, but I never was if I was riding a horse I knew would stay. They key is to start winding a horse up in plenty of time and more often than not they\u2019ll hit the line.<\/p>\n \u201cI took advantage on every turn. You can pinch lengths in a flash if you\u2019re cute enough and I was still five or six clear going into Swinley Bottom, without going too quick. I was pressing buttons without wanting him to jump out of my hands and just rode him like a grinder. I knew he wasn\u2019t going to stop and they never had a bite at me.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a great thrill to have executed such a perfect plan and a special day for Middleham Park Racing, as it was unusual back then for a syndicate to win a race at Royal Ascot. My silks were a kind of plastic material which caught the wind. I blew up like a balloon which didn\u2019t look great on the photos!\u201d<\/p>\n ZAIDAN<\/a> \u201cI\u2019d won a 5f sprint on him at Doncaster so we knew he was a good horse. His trainer Clive Brittain thought he had a better prospect for the Coventry so decided to step him up to 7f in the Chesham.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a massive advantage on the stands side that day but I was drawn right over on the other side in stall one. I was never one to go against orders and Clive liked his horse to be sat handy but this day I took the bull by the horns.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew he\u2019d run well if I stayed over there but wouldn\u2019t win so I dropped him out and switched across. Luckily, everything went right because I ended up following the right horse and he quickened to win just like I thought he would. He was hard on the bridle two out and was never going to get beaten.<\/p>\n \u201cZaidan liked fast ground but ran on soft on his next two starts and just paddled it in. He was a Street Cry and 99 out of 100 of them hate soft ground. There was some talk of him running in the Kentucky Derby but he ended up in Hong Kong with John Moore and then Tony Cruz. A very talented horse who could have achieved more.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nGolden Jubilee Stakes (2008)<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Golden](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/250605_kingsgatenative700.jpg\" "\\"Golden")
Seb sprung a 33-1 surprise in the Group 1 Golden Jubilee on Kingsgate Native
\nASTRAC
\nWokingham Stakes (1995)<\/p>\n
\nDuke Of Edinburgh Stakes (2004)<\/a><\/p>\n
\nAscot Stakes (2010)<\/a><\/p>\n
\nChesham Stakes (2010)<\/a><\/p>\n