In the land of opportunity, Harry Bentley will be at the head of the queue on Saturday night. He has one ride at the Breeders’ Cup, one chance to make a name for himself on one of racing’s most exclusive stages, and the 24-year-old jockey is ready to seize it with both hands.
When it comes to jockeys, the Breeders’ Cup is more often a meeting where reputations are enhanced, not made. The same dozen names, the best of the best on both sides of the Atlantic, take each other on in one race after another. Bentley, though, will be an interloper when he climbs aboard Limato, the joint-favourite for the Mile, for what will be not just his first Breeders’ Cup ride, but his first start at Santa Anita.
As with so many of the best opportunities, chance played a part in Bentley’s 5,000-mile trip to California for what could be the biggest two minutes of his life. He had never ridden Limato in a race when he bumped into Paul Jacobs, the gelding’s owner, at Charles de Gaulle airport last October after Limato’s second-place finish in the Prix de la Forêt at Longchamp. Limato had been ridden by four different jockeys on his last four starts, and Jacobs wanted a jockey to commit to his horse. The conversation that followed made up his mind.
“I’d met Paul before then and I’d ridden out for Mr [Henry] Candy [Limato’s trainer],” Bentley says, “but we got talking at the airport after the Forêt and two weeks later we spoke again and he asked if I could ride him this year.
“So it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time but everyone needs a bit of luck. Obviously, Paul liked the way that I rode and everything that goes with it, so it’s not just chance that I’ve got this.
“As far as American racing is concerned, I’ve no experience and it’s very good of him to keep me on, but everyone needs an opportunity and you need to be put in these positions. That’s how you get the ball rolling.”
As Bentley talks, it is easy to see why Jacobs was impressed. He is composed, thoughtful and lucid, and can draw on two decades of experience in the saddle as he faces up to the unfamiliar challenge of Santa Anita’s tight turf mile.
“I don’t even remember a time when I wasn’t riding,” Bentley says. “It was more the National Hunt side of things that was in the family, point-to-pointing, and hunting and ponies, so racing was always in my blood, but not necessarily Flat racing.
“We always had ponies and I was always putting my irons up a bit shorter. Racing was always what I wanted to do from when I was very young.”
Bentley served his apprenticeship with Gary Moore, whose stable is just a few miles from his family home in the downland village of Storrington in west Sussex. Moore’s son, Ryan, will ride Alice Springs, one of Limato’s main rivals on Saturday, while Tepin, the best turf miler in the United States and the winner of the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, is another daunting opponent.
Limato brings outstanding form to the race too, however, including Group One wins in both the July Cup and Prix de la Forêt this season, and his jockey is confident he will produce his best on Saturday.
“I know the horse well, I’ve done my homework and I feel I’m well prepared, so I’m pretty comfortable,” Bentley says. “It could seem mad to come over for one ride but this is the pinnacle and what you work towards, so I’d travel anywhere for a big ride like this and so would anyone.
“It’s certainly a big occasion and I’m going in with a big chance but I’ve been in this position before, I know how to handle myself and deal with the occasion. Obviously you get excited and look forward to it, but I feel like I handle it pretty well.
“We’re trying to beat Tepin on home soil, and that’s hard as everything is suited to this climate and this way of racing [in America].
“So it’s a tough challenge but she’s had a long season and she’s travelled a lot, so I think she’s beatable.
“As far as any sport is concerned, there always needs to be new people and new faces coming through, and you need opportunities like anyone. I’ve been lucky enough to be given a fantastic opportunity, and I plan to make every possible use of it.”
