Our questions are answered by the five-time champion jockey, who is still heavily involved in racing as an owner and breeder
At the age of 82, Willie Carson remains actively involved in racing as a breeder and racehorse owner – but he is universally known as one of Britain’s most successful jockeys of the last century.
The five-time champion jockey rode nearly 4,000 winners, capturing 30 European Classics, of which four were in the Epsom Derby.
Carson enjoyed his most successful period as stable jockey to Major Dick Hern, for whom he rode the Derby winners Troy, Henbit and Nashwan, and then as first jockey to Hamdan Al Maktoum.
In the Shadwell silks, Carson not only rode Nashwan, but another Derby winner Erhaab, as well as the likes of Salsabil, Shadayid, Dayjur and Bahri.
The lightning-quick Dayjur won three G1 prizes in 1990 but ran his greatest race in notorious defeat in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Belmont Park in 1990, when he jumped the shadow of the stands just as he was getting on top of US rival Safely Kept, and was beaten a neck.
Carson went on to earn Breeders’ Cup success as co-owner of 2013 Juvenile Fillies’ Turf winner Chriselliam, while his 1988 success in the St Leger on Minster Son was notable because he also bred the horse. After retiring from the saddle in 1996, he became a TV pundit for the BBC until the network ceased coverage of horse racing in 2012.
Which racing figure past or present do you most admire?
Quite a few. I would say Vincent O’Brien and Lester Piggott would be up there.
Vincent did a lot of things that trainers have learnt from – John Gosden for instance. I remember riding a filly to win the Cork & Orrery Stakes at Royal Ascot and he had me down the morning of the race. I thought I was going to have a canter on her but he had me go down just to sit on her and walk round the ring.
He pulled me out of the weighing room before the first race. He always spoke very quietly. “Willie, thank you very much for riding the filly,” he said. “I just wanted you to get to know her.”
The Minstrel was only a small horse and he always had his lads get off him. They were only on his back when he cantered or trotted; they always led him because he didn’t want that horse carrying jockeys around. They are only small, little things, but they can make the difference.
As for Lester, he changed a lot of things for jockeys. He made us better because we had to try hard to beat him. It was Lester who got us shares in stallions that we all ended up getting. You had to admire his tenacity. The will to win was tremendous. That’s all he ever worried about – winning. He sometimes did it illegally but the will to win was there!
Which is your favourite venue, and favourite race, anywhere in the world?
The Derby is my favourite race, although I won the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot eight times. The Derby is the race every jockey wants to win. It’s seen throughout the world so if you win it your name goes to every country that’s interested in horse racing. I reckon I rode my best race to win on Erhaab.
My favourite courses were the ones with the biggest prize-money and best races, such as Ascot and York. We all strived to ride the good horses and those were the tracks you would do it at.
Who is your favourite racehorse and why?
Dayjur because he was exciting to ride, exhilarating – the fastest horse I ever rode, the fastest horse anybody ever rode. He was electric in everything he did. He was not very good in the stalls, impatient, with a little sprinter’s stride. He changed his legs a lot but crikey he was quick. Going to West Ilsley, when I knew I would be riding him work, was always an exciting drive.
You always had him in behind a horse and I would be thinking when I was going to go past the leader … I only had to think it and I was past the horse. For some reason Dayjur got the message through my thinking. He was gone. He was a tingling animal to ride.
The Breeders’ Cup was a bit of a disaster. It’s a shame it wasn’t five furlongs because he was literally unbeatable at five. That race was six and it was the first time around a corner, and first time on dirt. They put me in box 13, did everything to get him beat and he nearly won it. He should have done. Half an hour before or half an hour later, the shadows wouldn’t have been there.
What is your fondest memory in racing?
Winning the Oaks on Dunfermline in 1977. That was my first year for Dick Hern, a job that a lot of people said I wasn't up to. It was the Queen’s Silver Jubilee so it was a great thrill to ride the Oaks winner for the Queen. Riding a winner for the Queen was great anytime but winning the Oaks in her Jubilee year was an extraordinary fairytale. I definitely would have been feeling a bit of pressure as it was my first year in a big stable.
If you could change one thing in racing, what would it be?
The prize-money in Britain is terrible. If you had better prize-money, then every single thing in racing would be better; it goes down the chain and the situation now is just diabolical. Our government should be getting involved to come in and run racing. There are too many people with their fingers in the pie and it’s not working.
Willie Carson was speaking to Jon Lees
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