WOW! I can’t believe we did it again yesterday! To win the same race back-to-back at Royal Ascot is the stuff of dreams.
Charlie had given me plenty of confidence to ride Onassis like I rode Thanks Be last year. We came from stall 3 last year and 1 this year. The race panned out exactly as I had hoped – to be honest, she made me look good. Everyone praised me saying what a good ride it was but she was the one that cruised past the whole field with ease. Three furlongs out, I thought I was going to win – they went really hard early and I was going so easily – I just needed to get a gap, and when I did, she flew home!
Even though there was no crowd, nothing has changed for us. It was still just as special as last year – it’s hard to get the rides on the best horses and to win at Royal Ascot back-to-back vs the best jockeys and horses is a very special feeling.
I have to give the credit to the trainer, what a great trainer Charlie Fellowes is! I’ve ridden a lot in my career for James Fanshawe and Charlie was assistant to James and I think he’s picked up a lot of his brilliant ways – the fact that Charlie identified the Sandringham after we won at Newcastle in the Autumn and to then prime her for the big day with no prep run proves how good he is.
I was told this morning that the viewing figures on ITV1 during my race was 1.76 million which was a quarter of a million more than when Frankie won on Stradivarius and more than any Royal Ascot terrestrial coverage figure for 8 years – it’s absolutely mindblowing!
1:15 Ascot: Palace Of Holyroodhouse Handicap
I didn’t have to ride out this morning so I went down to Somerset to stay with Nick. We had a couple of glasses of champagne to toast the win! I’m paying for it today though as I need to get down to 8 stone for the opening race. I had to sweat this morning and am driving to Ascot in all my kit to get it down again.
It will hopefully be worth it as Andrew is very sweet on my only ride today. NEVER DARK ls a horse I’ve never ridden but he looks to be a very pacy horse. We are coming from the same stall (1) as Onassis yesterday so hopefully we will have similar luck! I will probably not ride him as patiently as my filly yesterday but I think he has a good chance of going close. The favourite has obvious claims but if you take out him, then it is a very open contest.
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Hayley is teaming up with Andrew Balding again in the first race today at Ascot
Stay Safe and thank you for the messages,
Hayley!
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