After making headlines as first female to score at Meydan in Dubai, 22-year-old dreams of being champion jockey at home. But Saffie Osborne used to think she wasn’t any good – as she tells Laura King
Refreshing. That’s the word which springs most easily to mind after a quick chat with jockey Saffie Osborne.
The 22-year-old is in relaxed mode during a sunny afternoon at Jebel Ali racecourse in Dubai. She’s not riding, instead collecting an award for her services to horse racing.
That might be a little premature, perhaps, as Osborne has been race-riding for just three years.
However, a lot has happened in those three years, including some 170 winners in the UK, a couple of G3 wins on Random Harvest plus major handicap victories on Metier; in 2023 she comfortably retained her title as leading jockey in the Racing League series.
Meydan marvel
More recently, she became the first female to ride a winner in the 14-year history of Meydan in Dubai on Ouzo – then 24 hours later, she won the G3 Dukhan Sprint in Qatar on Emaraaty Ana, trained by her father Jamie.
“I was injured for the first half of the winter which scuppered my plans, but to come out to the Middle East and ride a couple of nice winners made up for that,” she says. The injury was torn ligaments in her knee which meant she missed November and December, returning with a winner on the all-weather in January.
Despite being the youngest child of hugely successful jump jockey-turned Flat trainer Jamie Osborne, Saffie took a detour on her way to the track, starting of in the world of eventing. She competed at three European Championships at pony and junior level, winning two golds in the process.
“That was pretty cool, but the focus was always going to be racing as I realised I might not make much money eventing,” she says.
“We grew up in a yard and having horses in my garden was the norm, although I feel very lucky to say that. I have three older brothers and they have no real interest in horses, so I think my parents were a bit shocked when I wanted to pursue a career in it.
“I first rode out when I was about 10 or 11 – and got run away with most days! I finished school when I was 17, did a summer with Aidan O’Brien and then did a winter with Ciaron Maher in Australia and then started riding [in races] when I’d just turned 19.”
Having a multiple Cheltenham Festival-winning jockey as a dad must have inspired her? Maybe not, given that Osborne senior retired from the saddle in 1999, three years before his daughter arrived.
“Dad had probably been training about a year and a half when I was born,” she says. “I was born in 2002 and in 2003, Dad trained the Dewhurst winner [Milk It Mick].”
‘He really sparked my love for racing’
Jamie Osborne would go on to an even higher profile win 11 years later when Toast Of New York landed the UAE Derby at Meydan, carrying the silks of Constitution Hill’s owner Michael Buckley. Later that year, he was beaten a nose by Bayern in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar.
“Toast Of New York was the first one really that I remember,” says Saffie. “He really sparked my love for racing – seeing Dad have a horse of that calibre travel round the world at all the big meetings.
“I remember sitting on the sofa at home when he won at Meydan. It’s really cool to be living that now.”
Osborne will have her own shot at Dubai World Cup night glory on March 30 when she rides Emaraaty Ana in the G1 Al Quoz Sprint. While that would be a nice one to win, the Breeders’ Cup is the one she wants.
“Everyone always asks me what race I’d most like to win and it would be a Breeders’ Cup race,” she explains. “For a European horse like Toast Of New York to come so close to something which seems impossible to do is amazing.
“Before the race you’d have taken that result, but then coming so agonisingly close is something that really stays with you. There’s a photo on the wall in Dad’s office of the three of them going across the line together.”
‘It was hard – I’m not going to lie’
Fast forward a year or so from that and Osborne launched her own riding career. “It was hard – I’m not going to lie,” she admits.
“People probably believe there’s quite a lot of nepotism involved in my story but Dad always made me work for it. He always wanted me to find my own place and I’m glad he let me do that because I was able to build contacts with some really good trainers.
“I wasn’t as good as I wanted to be when I started; I never pony raced or did flapping like lots of the Irish kids. The first time I was in the stalls on a racecourse was the first time I was in a race, so it took me a while to get to grips with it.”
What comes next may surprise those who have seen her ability on a horse. “I always believed I’m not a very talented person,” she claims. “I was never very good at anything, but I’ve always worked extremely hard to get to where I want to be.”
Osborne credits Harry Fry-trained Metier – aboard whom she won the November Handicap at the end of 2022 and the Chester Cup in May last year – as her real breakthrough horse.
“Metier was probably the first one,” she says. “Even though on the outside, I lost my claim quite quickly – it took nearly two years – I had a few bad falls and kept getting injured, so it felt like it dragged on for a while.”
Was she hindered by being female, in a still largely male weighing room? The answer is forthright. “No, I don’t think so at all,” she says.
“I think for people before me it did feel like that, but for me, with the likes of Hayley [Turner], Hollie [Doyle] and all the girls that have done well, it didn’t.
“I’ve always believed that it’s there if you’re good enough and there probably has been a lack of girls that are good enough. I’d like to think that no-one now would look at a race and pick me out as the girl; that I’m just as strong as anyone else. But to start with, I wasn’t, and I don’t think many apprentices are and maybe girls do take longer to get stronger.
‘Lots and lots of practice’
“No matter how much work you can do in the gym; the only thing that gets you to that point is experience and lots of lots of practice.
“If anything, being a girl probably helps. The year I had in 2023, I got a huge amount of publicity because there aren’t as many of us.”
Publicity comes at a price, however, and Osborne was quick to speak out when her father objected to some social media vitriol directed towards her.
“Dad saw something that someone put on Twitter and said: ‘when’s this going to stop?’” she explains. “It wasn’t, ‘you’ve given it a shit ride’, it was ‘I’m going to come to your door and kill you.’ To find out where I live probably isn’t very hard; it’s probably on Dad’s website!”
Instead of being scared by such threats, Osborne takes a pragmatic approach. “We understand there’s angry punters, but there’s a line to be drawn,” she continues. “You can guarantee that when you’re on a favourite that gets beat, you can type your name into Twitter and there’s someone slagging you, when nine times out of ten it probably wasn’t your fault.
“It’s something that unfortunately comes with the job, but there’s lots of great things that go with it as well.”
One of those must be working with her father, who, as well as continually proving to be a shrewd operator, remains one of the great personalities of British racing.
Father and daughter: two children together
“I feel like I’m the parent sometimes and he’s the child,” she laughs heartily. “I’m single-handedly trying to bring up my father and it’s not going very well! He’s forever young, let’s say.
“Mum [renowned equine artist Katie Osborne] takes the mickey out of us; she says we’re like two children together. She keeps us both in order.
“Dad and I have an unbelievable working relationship. I think it’s because he knows that if I’ve given one a bad ride I’ll come in and say: ‘I messed up there.’ He’s never once given me a bollocking. He always says: ‘why would you want a jockey who doesn’t know when they’ve made a mistake?’”
Outside of the family business, what are her aims? “To be champion jockey,” she answers without hesitation. “I don’t think anyone should have a licence if they don’t want to be champion jockey.
“I think it’s something that everyone wants to achieve and I’m very lucky that I’ve got the right agent to do that in Tony Hind. I was honoured to be on his books with the likes of Ryan [Moore] and Will [Buick].”
At 22, plenty of Osborne’s contemporaries are out enjoying life, partying at weekends and not taking anything too seriously. Not her; the list of hobbies is a short one.
“Sleep! I sleep a lot!” she says. “I play tennis – I’m quite a competitive person. I can’t play golf; I don’t have the temperament for it. It takes too long.
“[Partying] has never really been my thing. Through school my parents joked that I probably didn’t have many friends, because I was always quite driven and knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of that.
“I’m unbelievably privileged to do this job. What other 22-year-old can say that they get to travel around the Middle East for the winter and ride at Royal Ascot every year? It’s stuff like that which makes the everyday slog worth it.
“I’m always amazed when I get my Weatherbys statement every month as I don’t really think too much about the money. It’s just something that I love doing; what I’ve always dreamed of doing. I’m not quite at the point I want to be at yet but it’s amazing to be living that reality.”
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