Interview with Britain’s former all-weather champ, thriving in his new environment and set to ride Louisiana Derby runner-up Honor Marie in America’s greatest race
USA: Frankie Dettori is not the only former UK-based rider making headlines in the States. Ben Curtis has been making a name for himself there too since relocating at around the same time – and the former all-weather champ Curtis may get one up on his old weighing-room mucker in at least one significant respect.
Dettori is still without a ride in next month’s 150th running of the Kentucky Derby, the race at the very top of his wish list and one in which he has ridden in only once.
Curtis, on the other hand, is in line to ride Honor Marie for up-and-coming trainer Whit Beckman, who says the Irishman is “absolutely at the top of the list” to partner the Louisiana Derby runner-up.
Honor Marie is currently around a 25-1 chance with British bookmakers, but he is a guaranteed stayer and already a good winner of a G2 event around two turns at Churchill Downs as a two-year-old.
Rising star
Beckman is a rising star who learned the ropes with the likes of Chad Brown, Todd Pletcher and Eoin Harty, so it’s no wonder that Curtis is getting excited.
“Obviously It’s America’s biggest race – it’s like the Epsom Derby or the Melbourne Cup,” he says. “Just to have a ride in it is fantastic, but Honor Marie ticks a lot of boxes and if he runs as well as we think he can it will be amazing.”
Curtis, 34, went to the US with more than 1,000 winners to his name in Britain – plus around 160 in Ireland. Based in the North of England, he was a runaway winner of Britain’s all-weather championship in 2020 and numerically the country’s leading jockey that year over the full 12 months, when he took an almost inconceivable 1,038 mounts.
But although this renowned workaholic was always likely to be in demand, he had yearned to try his luck in the States one day after enjoying himself in the past riding trackwork on busman’s holidays.
Hit the ground running
Last autumn he finally scratched the persistent itch, upping sticks with his young family to move to New Orleans and ride at the historic Fair Grounds, where he hit the ground running with a Listed success at the end of December on Tufani before finishing fourth in the standings in one of America’s more competitive winter arenas.
Indeed, to say it has gone well so far would be an understatement, and the jockey’s success has not gone unnoticed, hence being in pole position to ride Honor Marie, who won last November’s G2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes.
“Obviously the Fair Grounds season had gone well for me and we finished out the last five or six weeks probably better than anyone,” explains Curtis. “We had very strong books of rides at those last meetings, with six or seven winners on the final weekend, and we finished a good fourth in the jockeys’ table with 43 winners.
“To then get the call from Whit to ride Honor Marie in the Louisiana Derby was the icing on the cake,” he goes on. “Whit had horses based down there through the winter so I’d been breezing a lot of them, but I only had a handful of rides for him.
“Then in the lead-up to the Louisiana Derby, the ride on Honor Marie was up in the air and Whit, who is friends with my agent Ron Faucheux, was keen to have somebody who would stay by Honor Marie. They put their heads together and I got the ride.”
Honor Marie was beaten just a length in the $1 million contest by the Brad Cox-trained Catching Freedom, whom he’ll face again at Churchill Downs, the pair both finishing strongly on the outside.
“It was probably a personal best from Honor Marie and I found him very easy to ride,” Curtis says. “He’s been training well since and when I flew to Churchill last week to breeze him he looked a million dollars. He did an easy half-mile breeze in 48.4s, well in his comfort zone, moving fantastic and finishing with his ears pricked. It was as near-perfect as you can get in a breeze.
“Some horses going into the race will have question marks over their stamina, but all Honor Marie has ever done in his races is finish strong and close late. He’s going to thrive over the trip and he’s already got winning form at Churchill.
“Other races were mentioned, but there’s only one Kentucky Derby and Whit is a young trainer who has come a long way in a short time. He’s well-rounded and very grounded, and he knows what his horses need.
“It will be his biggest runner, and his owners’ too, so everyone is excited about it. Whit has become a friend, and it will really stamp what he can do.”
Family-friendly
After the poorly rewarded daily grind of life on the road for the typical British-based jockey, Curtis can now reflect on a more family-friendly lifestyle.
“I get to spend so much more time here with the family, and that hit home one Monday,” he reports. “I was stood in the park with my wife Shauna and the kids [Brodi and Cian] and for once I didn’t have to rush off to go racing as I didn’t have to ride again until Thursday. The kids are six and three, so they are at an age when I want to be able to go on a bike ride with them or kick a football about.”
What is more, he is earning a significantly better pay cheque for his efforts in the saddle. “The prize-money is the main thing,” he says, “as out here you are getting the percentage you deserve of a pot that’s a lot more appropriate for the sport we are in, and that’s not just for winning but down to fourth place.
“In the UK, unless you are William Buick or Ryan Moore or one of the other lads who are regularly winning the Group 1s, you are relying on your riding fees to pay your bills.
“I’ve been in the top five at home and everyone thinks you are a millionaire, but absolutely not. You are putting your life on the line every day and making no more than you might as the manager of a garage or something like that.
“The way things are going here I don’t have to worry about paying the bills. If I ride winners I get rewarded.”
Mid-Atlantic circuit
With racing at Fair Grounds having finished for the season, he has moved north to base himself near Delaware Park for the summer season on the mid-Atlantic circuit.
“I’m planning to ride between Delaware, Monmouth and Laurel, which are all within an hour and a half for me,” he explains.
“Laurel is running already and I have five rides there on Friday and seven there on Saturday, which is a big day for them. Laurel will run all the way until Monmouth starts, and Delaware will run more or less parallel.
“I’m not saying I won’t come back to ride in Britain as nothing is off the table, but I didn’t want to be looking back at 60 and regretting not trying riding here, so here I am.
“I have always thrived on new challenges and adventures, so I made the decision to follow my dreams and embrace the opportunity in America for the foreseeable future.
“Life is too short to ignore your dreams and it’s a case of so far so good. Long may it continue!”
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