Hollie Doyle is deservedly honoured as she reaches an incredible 1,000th win – but that’s old news and now she wants more
Hollie Doyle had just taken the final step in her ascending career when she heard about special plans for a memorial.
Doyle on Tuesday became the second European-based woman, after her good friend Hayley Turner, to reach the milestone with her 1,000 winners. She had already ridden a Goodwood double: Leyhaimur, trained by David Simcock, was the horse that took her to four figures.
It was a significant moment and it was not lost on the officials at Kempton Park, where Doyle was due to ride the following day. They wondered whether it would be appropriate to give her a presentation before the meeting began. The reaction they got spoke volumes.
“It was really nice to see everyone being so happy for me, all the things people had done with videos and pictures,” says Doyle, picking up the story. “They wanted to do something for me at Kempton, but I thought, ‘That’s old news.’
‘I had some pasta in a pot that I got from the races and then I went to bed. I was asleep at half past eight, I had to work the next morning!
Hollie Doyle became the second European-based woman to partner with 1000 Winners on Tuesday
Doyle reached the magic four-figure number after completing a double at Goodwood on Leyhaimur
Doyle almost regrets being so matter-of-fact about it, but she regrets nothing
‘Of course I appreciate how far I’ve come, but I’ve always had my eye on something else, bigger and better. Maybe I’m just a dreamer – but maybe that’s just life? Don’t you need that attitude in any profession?’
We chat outside the weighing room at Haydock Park and Doyle almost feels remorseful for being so matter-of-fact about it, but she has nothing to apologise for. It’s fascinating to hear how your insights help you understand the workings of a top professional’s mind.
What Doyle, 27, is doing now is making the dream she had as a little girl come alive. She galloped on Jerry, the Thelwell pony her grandfather bought her when she was eight. Her father, Mark, was a former jockey, so it was inevitable that she would end up in racing.
There are varying degrees of success in racing, however, as in any sport, and Doyle’s fierce ambition to remain at the top is relentless. She has so far ridden 104 winners in 2024, the sixth consecutive year she has a century, but doubts haunt her over a rival at her withers.
“I’ve been preparing for this for a long time,” Doyle says. “I was waiting for opportunities and luckily they came. It worked out well. But I’m just so obsessed with riding winners and improving myself. It’s a great attitude for now, but one day it could come back to bite me. I don’t have an off switch.
“When I have a quiet moment, I know what it’s like to not do well. I haven’t done well for six years and I don’t want to go back to that. It’s an obsession to keep moving forward. Isn’t that how all athletes are?
‘It’s hard to enjoy the moment, if you know what I mean? You wonder what’s going to happen next. It’s like, “OK, I won The Oaks, but it’s not The Derby”. Is that really a bad way to think?’
No, it isn’t. She is told that a common feeling among footballers when their team has won a trophy is emptiness the next morning – the fear that the euphoria will never flow through them again.
“I’m lucky I ride every day,” she says. “But the Group 1s, the big days, I know exactly what they mean. You win a Group 1 and you don’t know when, if you’ll get another one. You’re going every half hour, there’s never a moment to reflect. It’s really mental.
Doyle will be looking for another top-level success at Haydock on Saturday afternoon
‘I’ve ridden a lot of winners, but if they’re not the people that everyone is watching, you don’t get a chance on the big days. People look at the statistics and if you’re not in the top 10, you can easily be forgotten. I’ve seen people come and go. I’m really terrified of that. It’s the fear of failure.
Fear is no bad thing, though. Without Fear, would her 1,000 wins be so richly decorated with nine Group One triumphs? The first was at Ascot on Glen Shiel in October 2020, the most recent was at York last month on Bradsell, who carried her faster than she has ever been in a saddle.
She will be chasing another top-level success at Haydock on Saturday afternoon when Vadream – a lively outsider – contests the Betfair Sprint Cup, but whether it happens or not, she cannot let the week pass without a reference to Turner, her good friend who has been a pioneer for female jockeys.
“There aren’t many girls in the weigh-in room, but the ones who are good enough get opportunities,” Doyle said. “With Hayley, she’s made it easier for me. I really appreciate what she’s done, all the way. But all I can think about is riding winners. I don’t have anything else to think about.”