{"id":328495,"date":"2025-08-08T18:05:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T18:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/328495\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T18:05:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T18:05:15","slug":"rita-ora-was-like-one-of-the-lads-but-id-rather-be-a-jockey-than-a-pop-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/328495\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Rita Ora was like one of the lads \u2013 but I\u2019d rather be a jockey than a pop star\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jockey Robbie Dolan is a man of many talents. The Irishman, appearing in the Shergar Cup at Ascot Racecourse, looks back on his time on The Voice Australia with mentor Rita Ora\u2026\"RobbieRobbie didn’t want to be seen as a bad singer<\/p>\n

Robbie Dolan could be performing on either of Ascot\u2019s main stages. But the multi-talented Irishman will leave the after-party entertainment to Perrie Edwards and Marvin Humes, while he sets out to prove he has the X Factor in the saddle as one of the stars of the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup.<\/p>\n

Like the former Little Mix and JLS stars, Dolan was the breakout hit of a TV talent show. He sang his way into the stable of Rita Ora<\/a>, who became his mentor after he turned three chairs at the blind audition on The Voice<\/a> Australia in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be on my team,\u201d said the British star, after hearing Dolan\u2019s version of James Bay\u2019s Let It Go.<\/p>\n

\"RitaRita Ora wanted Robbie on her team(Image: Seven)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first walked out on that stage I had my eyes closed!\u201d recalls 29-year-old Dolan. \u201cI didn\u2019t really know what to expect. I knew I could sing a bit because people told me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember watching the X Factor years ago when the judges said they were great singers and they turned out really bad. I didn\u2019t want to be that guy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen everyone turned around and they were all delighted, I was just gobsmacked. Rita was great. She was like one of the lads. She was going to have a beer with us but we never got the chance because we filmed the show during the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RobbieRobbie is appearing in the Shergar Cup at Ascot Racecourse(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Dolan didn\u2019t realise his dream of becoming a pop idol. Despite advancing through the callbacks, he was eliminated in the quarter finals by eventual winner Lachie Gill.<\/p>\n

Instead, he went on to achieve longer lasting fame as a professional jockey. The native of Kildare, Ireland, was born into horse racing. His grandfather was a Classic-winning jockey and both his parents rode.<\/p>\n

He had ridden only three winners in Ireland when in 2016 he uprooted himself to try out Australia. \u201cI had no money, I had a school bag on my back, but I wanted to give it a go,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He was an instant hit, becoming a champion apprentice in Sydney.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia was a big culture shock,\u201d he says. \u201cEverything is different. I was young and needed a change of scenery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was only planning on going over for a year and maybe have a few rides as an apprentice and look I\u2019ve been there for nine years. It\u2019s obviously touched me in a certain way. The culture and lifestyle in Australia is very hard to beat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RobbieRobbie switched singing for racing(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Last November he picked up the mount on an apparent no-hoper in the Melbourne Cup, one of the world\u2019s biggest horse races. Knight\u2019s Choice\u2019s odds were 90-1 yet Dolan produced the horse from the tail of the field to snatch victory by a short head.<\/p>\n

Within 24 hours he was back on stage, duetting with Ronan Keating at a casino in the centre of Melbourne.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a big ladies lunch,\u201d he says. \u201cThere were 500 screaming women and me and Ronan up on stage. It was a bit of a craic.\u201d<\/p>\n

He recognises his good fortune. \u201cI never thought I would get the opportunity to ride in the Melbourne Cup so to win it on my first ride in the race was pretty special,\u201d he says. \u201cIt has made me want to get that feeling again.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for that I wouldn\u2019t have received the invitation to ride in the Shergar Cup. I watched the event as a kid so it\u2019s very special to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RobbieRobbie was on The Voice Australia in 2022(Image: Getty Images for ATC)<\/p>\n

Dolan still takes bookings as a singer, but his number one vocation is that of a professional jockey. Today he will join Britain\u2019s Hollie Doyle and Joanna Mason on the Great Britain & Ireland team in the novel jockey competition.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cThe singing is something I had been hiding behind the scenes since I was a kid. I really enjoy it. It\u2019s cool to juggle the ball because they fit in pretty well together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do a bit on the side when I can but racing is full-on so they clash a fair bit. I\u2019ve had to turn down gigs because I am riding, but sometimes I might ride at a meeting and perform afterwards in a VIP area.<\/p>\n

\u201cRacing is an entertainment business at the end of the day and the two can go hand in hand because you get a lot of drunken people on course, having a bet, listening to music and enjoying themselves and that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jockey Robbie Dolan is a man of many talents. The Irishman, appearing in the Shergar Cup at Ascot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[2721,288,1071,51382,79,26795,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-328495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-dubai","9":"tag-horse-racing","10":"tag-racing","11":"tag-rita-ora","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-the-voice","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114994474639826322","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}