There is something almost self-harming about Richard Hughes’s decision to end his career with five days’ racing at Goodwood, where the curves and cambers throw horses against each other and across each other and introduce a large element of luck into many outcomes. One could ride a dozen favourites there and end the week empty-handed. It’s as if a star basketballer had chosen as his swansong to attempt 35 half-court shots.
The 42-year-old champion jockey has said he is relaxed about the possibility of getting to Saturday evening without a winner, though it is hard to believe he would really be so cool about such a run of defeats. After all, he has been top jockey at the Glorious meeting four times in the past five years, setting a new record of nine wins in 2010.
But this time, success may be harder to come by. The Richard Hannon stable that has provided him with so many zippy mounts over the years is not making quite so much use of him, largely because it has now attracted owners from Dubai and Qatar that retain their own riders. When we first spoke about Goodwood, a little over a week ago, Hughes told me he would normally, by then, have a good list of horses in his mind that he was likely to ride. This year, it extended to just two names at that point and one of those has since become a doubtful runner.
It has been rather a pity that, in this last of his 27 years in the saddle, Hughes has not simply been able to assume his services would be required in every major race. He watched the Derby from the weighing room, even though there was a Hannon runner, and he also missed out on Saturday’s King George, despite having been booked for the eventual runner-up, Eagle Top, at the overnight stage. Frankie Dettori took that ride when his original mount was withdrawn. Who could blame Hughes if he saw the chestnut getting beat by a nose and wondered what might have been?
Hannon will provide what material he can this week and it seems likely that other trainers with chances will make use of him while they can, bearing in mind Hughes’s reputation for finding a smooth passage around the Sussex track while others flail. But he does not object to sharing his insights for the benefit of all and freely discussed his approach during a lull between rides last week.
“You have to go the shortest way at Goodwood, but that’s only up to a point. You’ve got to save your ground right down to, probably, the two pole, which is the last jink on the rail. If you persist down the inner there, you won’t get out. It’s at that point you’ve got to slingshot the last little kink in the bend and get out for a clear run.”
The way Goodwood tips downhill from before the home turn encourages jockeys to make an early move but Hughes sees this as a pitfall. “If you’re off the bridle [at the home turn], you won’t win. If you try to make ground on the outside from the turn in, by the time you get to the furlong pole, you’ve used a lot of horse up. It doesn’t look like you’re losing ground but you’re losing an awful lot.
“I find that you’ve got to gain your ground down the inner, going the shortest way, and then, when you’re ready, you then get out. Because you won’t get a run down the inner, or very seldom.”
Hannon says: “Hughesie has ridden some great races at Goodwood,” before adding in jocular fashion: “He’s ridden some shockers, too, no question of that. It’s a track like that, it can make jockeys looks silly. I think he probably rides it better than anyone else. It’s always been good to him, so he wants to finish there.
“It is a track where you have to have a bit of guts, you have to ride them, you have to give them plenty of time. You can sit out the back but you need to know when to go and how to go. That’s what probably sets him apart from the others.”
And when the week is over, how will we remember him? Hannon says of Hughes: “He’s been an outstanding jockey. He’s been a massive asset to us and we’ll miss him.”
Ralph Beckett, the other trainer for whom Hughes has won a British Classic, adds: “I’ve admired his longevity, doing that weight for that long, for someone his size [Hughes is 5ft 10in]. There’s plenty of people smaller than him, the same frame as him, that haven’t managed to do 8st 8lb as often as he has. That’s probably underplayed.”
Hughie Morrison, one of the most recent trainers to provide Hughes with a winner, says: “He’s always been one of the great jockeys. Great judge of pace. We’ve been quite lucky to use him regularly because Richard Hannon has often had speed horses and we’ve often had staying horses.”
Mark Johnston, whose horses often front-run, says: “In some ways, our styles were a bit different, but he’s such a masterful jockey, he can ride any style, frankly. And I think he’s a bit different from your average jockey, as far as going training. He’s steeped in it. I think he’s always been thinking that way.” It’s not a young man’s game? “It is to some extent, but I’m sure he’s got plenty of energy left.”
