I'm pleased to be giving Joe Akehurst (pictured in these two photographs on Frankie, ie Douchkirk, about three weeks ago) the ride on Alcalde at Cheltenham tomorrow. Joe's been very good to us over the past year or so. He's from this area, but he works down south now for Gary Moore. But when he's back home, he usually pops in and gives us a hand, whether that be schooling or otherwise. He's a very good rider, but jockeying is a competitive business, and it's probably not that easy getting rides in Gary Moore's stable: although there are plenty of horses there, there are plenty of jockeys
too, some of them being some of Gary's children. So it's worked out well tomorrow: it's a conditionals' race so we need to look elsewhere than William, and Joe is an obvious candidate as he rides well and comes with the benefit of a 5lb claim under the race's conditions. It's rather confusing as he is J. Akehurst the jumps jockey, son of J. Akehurst the jumps jockey (Jim the father, rather than Joe the son) but no relation of J. Akehurst (John) the trainer. It was formerly confusing because Jim rode down in the south east on the Plumpton/Fontwell/Folkestone/Lingfield
circuit in the '70s and early '80s when Reg Akehurst was a leading trainer in Epsom, and it would have been an easy mistake to make to guess that they were related. Particularly if one knew that Reg had a son called J. Akehurst. Jim is now primarily a flying groom for, I think, Godolphin, but he also has a livery yard, somewhere near Mildenhall I think, and has done some box-driving at various times; in fact, I've been in a box driven to the races by him a few times over the years. So it's good that Joe is riding the horse (who is pictured here early last month looking more summery than is the case now, although his coat isn't yet quite long enough to justify my clipping some of it off).
Someone else who rides for this stable who deserves to be mentioned in these dispatches is Cathy Gannon, but not for good reasons, unfortunately: she broke her leg at Nottingham a couple of days ago, which means that her extremely successful season has been brought to a painful, premature and sudden close. It's ironic that Britain's two most successful female jockeys, Cathy (pictured on Silken Thoughts) and Hayley Turner, should both be nursing broken legs at present, but that does not alter the fact that each has enjoyed a tremendous season with many winners well deserved. The one consolation, I suppose, for each of them in sustaining an injury which will keep them out of action for a few months is that they are both now well enough established to be able to miss a few months and still find plentiful support on their come-backs. For Cathy, in particular, that would have been far from the case a couple of years ago, but happily now she will find once she is mended that all the many stables which had been patronising her before the hiatus, this one included, will be doing so after her resumption.
Someone, understandably, finding it harder to get going is Tony Whelan (pictured a couple of months ago outside Green Lodge on the Severals). Tony (who, I think, served his time with the aforementioned Reg Akehurst, funnily enough - I could be wrong on that one, but it was definitely somewhere down south, I think in Epsom) is a good jockey, but it's understandable that his profile here currently is very low as he's been riding overseas, mainly in Macau, for most of the past 15 years. However, he's been settled back in the UK for a while now and his ever-smiling face (in Rae Guest's string) is a welcome addition to the Heath. I think that he's taken out a jockey's license again and so I think that we should give him a little plug on this blog. It's a recurring theme that there are many more good jockeys than there are successful ones, and that all most of the good riders require is the opportunity to be successful. Tony definitely comes into this category, so if you see him down for a ride on a horse who looks to have a chance, certainly don't be put off by the fact that the jockey is an obscure one.
I'm pleased to be giving Joe Akehurst (pictured in these two photographs on Frankie, ie Douchkirk, about three weeks ago) the ride on Alcalde at Cheltenham tomorrow. Joe's been very good to us over the past year or so. He's from this area, but he works down south now for Gary Moore. But when he's back home, he usually pops in and gives us a hand, whether that be schooling or otherwise. He's a very good rider, but jockeying is a competitive business, and it's probably not that easy getting rides in Gary Moore's stable: although there are plenty of horses there, there are plenty of jockeys
too, some of them being some of Gary's children. So it's worked out well tomorrow: it's a conditionals' race so we need to look elsewhere than William, and Joe is an obvious candidate as he rides well and comes with the benefit of a 5lb claim under the race's conditions. It's rather confusing as he is J. Akehurst the jumps jockey, son of J. Akehurst the jumps jockey (Jim the father, rather than Joe the son) but no relation of J. Akehurst (John) the trainer. It was formerly confusing because Jim rode down in the south east on the Plumpton/Fontwell/Folkestone/Lingfield
circuit in the '70s and early '80s when Reg Akehurst was a leading trainer in Epsom, and it would have been an easy mistake to make to guess that they were related. Particularly if one knew that Reg had a son called J. Akehurst. Jim is now primarily a flying groom for, I think, Godolphin, but he also has a livery yard, somewhere near Mildenhall I think, and has done some box-driving at various times; in fact, I've been in a box driven to the races by him a few times over the years. So it's good that Joe is riding the horse (who is pictured here early last month looking more summery than is the case now, although his coat isn't yet quite long enough to justify my clipping some of it off).
Someone else who rides for this stable who deserves to be mentioned in these dispatches is Cathy Gannon, but not for good reasons, unfortunately: she broke her leg at Nottingham a couple of days ago, which means that her extremely successful season has been brought to a painful, premature and sudden close. It's ironic that Britain's two most successful female jockeys, Cathy (pictured on Silken Thoughts) and Hayley Turner, should both be nursing broken legs at present, but that does not alter the fact that each has enjoyed a tremendous season with many winners well deserved. The one consolation, I suppose, for each of them in sustaining an injury which will keep them out of action for a few months is that they are both now well enough established to be able to miss a few months and still find plentiful support on their come-backs. For Cathy, in particular, that would have been far from the case a couple of years ago, but happily now she will find once she is mended that all the many stables which had been patronising her before the hiatus, this one included, will be doing so after her resumption.
Someone, understandably, finding it harder to get going is Tony Whelan (pictured a couple of months ago outside Green Lodge on the Severals). Tony (who, I think, served his time with the aforementioned Reg Akehurst, funnily enough - I could be wrong on that one, but it was definitely somewhere down south, I think in Epsom) is a good jockey, but it's understandable that his profile here currently is very low as he's been riding overseas, mainly in Macau, for most of the past 15 years. However, he's been settled back in the UK for a while now and his ever-smiling face (in Rae Guest's string) is a welcome addition to the Heath. I think that he's taken out a jockey's license again and so I think that we should give him a little plug on this blog. It's a recurring theme that there are many more good jockeys than there are successful ones, and that all most of the good riders require is the opportunity to be successful. Tony definitely comes into this category, so if you see him down for a ride on a horse who looks to have a chance, certainly don't be put off by the fact that the jockey is an obscure one.
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