Laura King speaks to Portuguese jockey Riccardo Ferreira as he prepares for two mounts on Dubai World Cup night.
It isn’t often that a jockey is mobbed by the media even before a big win.
But that was the case for Ricardo Ferreira hours before the biggest success of his career, on Al Haram in the Group 3 Saudi Derby on the Saudi Cup undercard.
The win, obtained in audacious fashion from the back of the field, took Al Haram’s record to a perfect four from four.
For Ferreira, it was huge and the biggest victory, so far, of an unusual career.
“I want more!” he says. “Having that achievement was really wonderful. I feel like my career started on that day.”
In fact, the Saudi Derby followed a very successful season for Ferreira in the Kingdom, where he amassed 27 wins, operating at a 11.3 per cent strike rate.
“The Saudi Derby followed a very successful season for Ferreira in the Kingdom, where he amassed 27 wins, operating at a 11.3 per cent strike rate.”
It’s a long way from his childhood in Portugal, where Flat racing is an amateur sport and only one meeting has been staged so far in 2026.
“My grandfather raced horses,” he explains of his start in the sport. “In Portugal people really live the races and sometimes the owner is the trainer and also the jockey. I had a pony when I was young and always wanted to be a jockey.”
Ferreira added that in Portugal there have been races “for many years”, but they’ve “stayed at same level and prize money is low”, meaning that many trainers have left to compete in France or elsewhere.
“If you want to be professional,” he states, “you have to go outside.”
Ferreira did just that, leaving in 2012 to go to Madrid and turn professional. Before that came a six-month stint in Newmarket with Sir Mark Prescott.
“That was an amazing experience,” he says. “I learned a lot about pace, and it made a lot of difference to me as a rider.”
After that came success in Spain, where he was twice crowned Champion Jockey.
Saudi, however, where he has spent the winter for the past four years, has been the real breakthrough for his career.
“Saudi has been a bigger stage for me, with more opportunities, and I’ve been able to go up step by step,” says the 33-year-old. “I started to win big races, international races. I won my first Group 3 and my first local Group 1. Saudi has been really good to me.”
He has plenty of backing, too, from the European racing media and those from South America, who seem to have adopted them as one of their own – hence that pre-Saudi Cup interview queue.
“In Saudi I feel really welcome,” he says. “People love me and I love the people, but I wasn’t expecting the support from Europe and South America. All the messages and people calling from there has been really nice and I appreciate it.”
Like many of today’s jockeys, Ferreira is constantly travelling, often accompanied by his wife Jessica.
“We live in a car or on a plane,” she chips in.
This weekend he’s heading to France on Saturday, Madrid on Sunday and on Tuesday he goes to Dubai in preparation for two big rides at the Dubai World Cup meeting.
Al Haram heads to the Group 2 UAE Derby and Mhally to the Group 2 Godolphin Mile, but it’s the unbeaten Al Haram about whom he’s most confident, despite the colt taking on opposition from Japan, the UAE, the UK and France in the 1900m contest.
“Al Haram can run really well,” he says. “1900m is better for him. He’s unbeaten in four races but over 1600m he jumps well but runs off the pace. With better distance he should travel better. My team in Saudi are really happy with him and say he’s training very well. I think he can win or fight hard.”
Mhally was seventh in the Saudi Cup and Ferreira says he, owner Sheikh Abdullah Homoud Almalek Alsabah and the whole team were happy.
“In the Saudi Cup he ran better than he did in the qualifier,” says Ferreira, “but in the Godolphin Mile I’m worried about the drop in distance. I think he’s better over further, but he jumps well from the stalls and if he jumps well and travels on the bridle, he has a good turn of foot.”
Victory on either horse would eclipse the Saudi Derby as the biggest win of his career.
Ferreira means business. He’s just getting started.
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