Caoilin Quinn is feeling mighty frustrated. The 21-year-old from Downpatrick has seen his hot streak stifled by sub-zero temperatures that have frozen out jump racing in Britain on back-to-back Saturdays.
“I’ve been on the way to the races the last couple of days and it has been abandoned,” says the Northern Ireland jockey. “It was a kick in the teeth.
“Hopefully, it is going to warm up next week, so we can get the show back on the road, and I can start again where I left off,” adds Quinn, whose last mount before the weather ’s untimely intrusion, scored at Leicester 10 days ago.
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The winner, Aggagio, is trained by Gary Moore, whom Quinn joined in August after four years with Warren Greatrex in Lambourn.
“I rode two winners for Gary last season and he seemed to like me,” recalls Quinn, who rode 32 pony-racing winners in Ireland, where his rivals included the likes of Jack Kennedy, Rossa Ryan and Darragh O’Keeffe.
“He offered me the job during the summer and it was a no-brainer, given the opportunities he was going to give me.”
His dozen-strong tally for the season has taken Quinn to 23 career winners and includes a victory aboard Moore’s Botox Has in a big-money handicap hurdle on Haydock Park’s Betfair Chase undercard four weeks ago.
The win, gained in front of ITV viewers, would have earned the six-year-old a place in the Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot today.
“It was a big meeting and a big day,” reflects the conditional, whose 5lb claim makes him a magnet for punters.
“Gary had given me plenty of rides and then suddenly he put me up in a big race like that.
“I’m grateful he had the trust in me to do that.”
Moore’s days as a jump jockey – sons Jamie and Josh have ridden top-level winners for the stable – make every day in Lower Beeding a school day.
“Every day here, you are learning something new,” observes Quinn. “You learn a lot off Gary, riding-wise, and he’s a great horseman as well.
“The way he deals with horses – different types of horses – he’s a huge help.”
Josh, aboard Botox Has for the gelding’s previous four successes, is training full time with his father after recovering from the fall at Haydock last April that left him in a coma.
“He knew him inside-out and he gave me all the instructions,” recounts Quinn. “He’s a huge help.
“Everyone grafts. Everyone is out at the same time every morning, and everyone puts a shift in.”
Quinn, who trails Luca Morgan by 15 in the conditional riders’ standings, concedes: “I’d love to win it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t.
“I’m trying not to get too caught up in it but it’s always on my mind – I think about it every day.
“I’ll keep trying my hardest to ride as many winners as I can but, if it doesn’t happen this season, I’ll be full steam ahead for next year.” More immediately, Quinn works with jockey-coach Mick Fitzgerald to polish his skills for when the thaw, eventually, arrives.
“The thing I love most is not people telling me how well I’m doing – it’s the people that point out the things I’m doing wrong,” says Quinn.
“If no-one points them out, you can’t improve on them.
“As a kid, growing up – against the likes of Rossa and Kennedy – I felt I was just average.
“Plenty of people told me that, if I keep going the way I’m going, I’ll be a big-time jockey some day.
“I’ve always kept that in my mind. Luckily, things are working out now.”
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