Currently stationed in Dubai riding work for David Simcock, Instagram devotee Katy Reed owns a half-share in one of her regular mounts. Interview by Laura King
UAE: From exercise rider to owner. It’s not a journey made by many, but it’s happened to Katy Reed, one of the most dedicated members of her profession.
A familiar diminutive figure on the back of a horse on Newmarket Heath or on Dubai’s flat Meydan oval, Reed can be spotted by her trademark St George’s cross helmet cover. She’s not just a rider, however, as she now has a half-share in one of the horses she rides, the David Simcock-trained Traila.
Clearly she has come a long way since starting riding at the age of three, in a family with no racing connection. “I grew up having lots of ponies and used to compete at county level and go hunting a bit,” says Reed.
“Neither of my parents are in racing but we have always been involved with horses in some way or other.”
Reed, who is coy about her age – “it’s irrelevant!” – originally started out with a desk job, but the pull of the gallops was too strong. “I started working in racing in my early 20s,” she says.
“My main job was as secretary to a partner at a solicitor’s based in Newmarket but before work I rode out one lot for David Loder and I got the bug for riding racehorses. I ended up going to France for two years, working for David, which was great fun.”
After France came a first trip to the Middle East, somewhere which remains a home from home. “After working in France I was very keen to work in Dubai so I got a job for four or five years just in the winter months,” Reed continues.
“I worked for John Hyde at Dubai Stable, where the majority of the Shadwell horses were broken in.”
Like plenty of Dubai’s racing workforce, she travelled home to the UK during the summer, working for Sir Michael Stoute for two decades.
“I rode some great horses with my two favourites being Hillstar and Crystal Ocean,” she says. “It was fantastic when they won big races, such a great feeling.
“They were completely different to ride,” she adds. “Hillstar was quite a keen, forward going horse and not ‘colty’ at all, while Crystal Ocean was quite colty at times but very relaxed and chilled to ride. I love all that family so much as I worked there when their mother [Crystal Star] was in training and all the great siblings, including Crystal Zvezda.
“She had a lot of nervous energy but loads of ability. Her only two foals to run have won, including one black type [Listed-placed Crystal Caprice] so hopefully she’ll be a fabulous broodmare.”
Reed’s love of the family means she now owns an extended member of it. “Traila, the horse I own in partnership now, stems from that great bloodline bred by Southcourt Stud and Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, who sadly died last year,” she continues.
Reed has part-owned Traila since July, when she and partner Edward Ware went to 82,000gns to secure the five-year-old Australia gelding at the Tattersalls July Mixed Sale.
“I used to ride Waila, Traila’s dam, on the odd occasion,” she explains. “Hopefully he’ll win a race or two for us. He is a big backward, slow-maturing horse but has a great temperament and is so easy to deal with; extremely chilled and very laid back.”
Reed is close friends with Simcock’s wife Jenny and has a long association with the Classic-winning stable. Now the fiancée of bloodstock agent Loder, she enjoys something of a jet-setting lifestyle – albeit one that is never far from the horses.
“For the last 16 years I’ve been riding the Simcock horses for the Dubai Carnival and I’ve also been to Canada and Japan for Sir Michael,” she says. “When I am in Newmarket I go and ride out for them but as I travel so much now I don’t really have a proper job.”
Reed’s popular Instagram account – more than 13,000 followers – paints a glamorous picture of beaches and palm trees, but she is always close to a stable, despite a nasty accident which kept her out of the saddle for a while.
“I broke my foot 18 months ago when a fresh two-year-old fell over on the road with me, but, touch wood, I haven’t had another hairy moment,” she says. “I hope to ride for as long as possible as it’s something I truly love being involved in.”
Age really is irrelevant, it seems.
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