Derek Fox has built a reputation for inspiring and daring heist rides, but there’s something pretty inspiring about this Grand National winner’s personal journey.
The County Sligo-born jockey will ride Lucinda Russell’s 6-1 favorite Corach Rambler in Saturday’s £1 million race at Aintree, provided he passes a fitness test after injuring his shoulder in a fall last week.
Fox won the race on Russell’s One For Arthur in 2017. It will be a feat to repeat, but it’s no further than a jockey who, after dropping out of school at the age of 14 and struggling to read and write after being at he had been diagnosed with dyslexia, appealed to the kind of damn determination that sets special athletes apart by teaching themselves how to read.
He admits that he used to spend too much time watching television or in the pub, but now prefers to devour a good book.
Fox, who turns 31 next month, said: ‘I was never very good at school and I never had a huge interest. I left school maybe a year or two before I should have – I was 14. I don’t know how, but I seemed to get away with it.
Derek Fox will ride Lucinda Russell’s 6-1 favorite Corach Rambler in the Grand National
Fox will look for a second Grand National win after riding One For Arthur to victory in 2017
‘When I was young, one of the teachers said I was dyslexic. From there I always got extra help with reading, but I struggled and there was a lack of lack on my part.
“I wasn’t interested in what I read, but since I got older I wanted to take in information. The things I read mean more to me now. I was in my early twenties when I started to get better.
“I started reading a few simple books and went from there. My reading has really improved. I mostly read autobiographies, you can learn more about life there. I found Muhammed Ali’s autobiography extremely good. You could really deal with it.
‘Maybe it’s just me, but you can lose your concentration with a book. That one got me excited to read it as soon as possible because there was always something happening.’
Fox added, “I can’t quite believe it, but I’ve gotten pretty good at it. I like to read the books now and watch less TV.
“Maybe it’s just that I’m getting older, but I find I don’t go out as much. I still have a drink now and then but I can go months without it and as I get older I think the biggest waste of time is going to the pub.’
Fox admits his overall outlook is very different from the youngster who arrived at Russell’s Scottish stable a decade ago.
The jockey said, ‘When you start it’s all exciting. You live from day to day and you don’t think much about it. As you progress as a professional, you have to keep working on yourself and keep getting better or else you will fall behind.
The Grand National winner has revealed his passion for reading despite being dyslexic
“If you think you’ve made it or are at the forefront of horse racing, it quickly overtakes you. You have to keep building on yourself.’
Not many outside the sport had heard of Fox when he won the Grand National in 2017 on the Russell-trained One For Arthur, but he never doubted he would become a jockey from the days when he rode a Welsh pony that Reggie was called.
There were days when he and some friends would catch the school bus only to hop off a stop later to spend the day riding bareback across the field.
“My mom almost always caught us doing it, but sometimes we got away with it,” Fox says with a smile. ‘I used to play a little football and other sports during school hours, but outside of school I just rode the ponies. That’s all I ever wanted to do.
“I never decided to ride racehorses, it was just something I assumed I was going to do.”
Fox, whose national win a month after breaking his left wrist, cut his teeth driving to the small stables of Mark McNiff and Noel Kelly, but realized he had to move to a bigger stable to make progress and made the decision to switching to surgery Russell runs with partner Peter Scudamore and where his cousin Stephen had previously worked.
It turned out to be the best decision he ever made.
He has forged a partnership with Grade One winning chaser Ahoy Senor and has been successful at the last two Cheltenham Festivals with Corach Rambler, jumping brutally off the pace on both occasions, with the final run making Saturday’s horse look like the best disabled horse of the race. .
Fox enters the Grand National after leading Corach Rambler to victory at Cheltenham
When Fox triumphed at One For Arthur it was with another signature holdup ride when most of the field was still ahead of him as he jumped onto Becher’s Brook on the second track.
Fox has nerves of steel and Russell has said one of his great strengths is getting into the minds of his mounts and understanding their needs, but he downplays it all.
“From the outside, people may call it cool, but to me it’s just what the horses need,” said Fox. ‘That’s how Corach Rambler and One For Arthur like to be ridden.
“Luckily Scu knows the horses and the racing so well. He knows that the horses have to be ridden like this, so we’re on the same wavelength.’
In his races leading up to One For Arthur’s win, Fox had seen the gelding thrive on passing beaten horses at the end of the race and his big race tactics worked perfectly.
Fox will now take what he’s learned about Corach Rambler into the biggest race of the season, including his tendency to idle and watch the crowd when he gets to the front.
He did it again when he won the Ultima Chase at Cheltenham last month.
And he said, ‘The only thing you can compare between Arthur and Corach is similar running style. One For Arthur was not a fast starter and Corach needs some time to warm up.
“Corach tends to be idle when he gets to the front, so I try to leave it as late as possible.”
So the battle plan is clear to Corach Rambler and there’s no one better than Fox to try and execute it.