The first race at Royal Ascot on Friday was the only event on the card in which Ryan Moore did not have a ride but the meeting’s leading jockey was watching in the weighing room and urging on his old rival Richard Hughes as he rode Illuminate to victory in the Albany Stakes, his first success at his last Royal Ascot.
Hughes, who will retire from the saddle to start a new career as a trainer at the end of the season, followed that up with victory on Arab Dawn in the Duke of Edinburgh Handicap Stakes and has now ridden 31 Royal Ascot winners in all.
But while Illuminate is quoted among the market leaders for next year’s 1,000 Guineas, Hughes has no regrets about his decision to quit.
“I didn’t come in here saying I had to ride a winner because it’s my last one,” Hughes said, “but I’ve got 30 Royal Ascot winners now, so now I want to train 30. I’m very positive and focused about what I’m going to do ahead.
“No matter what years, they [Classic contenders] are always going to come along from Richard Hannon’s yard and there’s plenty of good jockeys there to ride them. I just hope I find one to train. I’m in a good frame of mind, no regrets. Thirty is nice. People wouldn’t remember 29.”
Hughes rode his first Royal Ascot winner on Sergeyev in the Jersey Stakes in 1996 for Richard Hannon Sr, whose son Richard Jr trains Illuminate.
“Hughsie is going to leave a very big hole in the operation,” Hannon said. “He hasn’t missed a beat, and she’s a very good filly.”
