Stories From The Saddle: Bekah Duffy A Perfect Start

Bekah, Wild Polly and connections after their victory (Sean Tasker Brown)

The Jockey Start initiative was launched last season by former rider Will Ramsay with the

objective of introducing young jockeys to racing via point-to-pointing. After several placings

last season, Jockey Start had its first winner at the weekend when 22-year-old Bekah Duffy,

on her first ride, piloted the Susan Corbett-trained Wild Polly to victory at Hexham. Jake

Exelby explains the background to the scheme and talked to Bekah afterwards about her

involvement, and the many emotions surrounding her debut success.

The concept behind Jockey Start is that owners lease older horses as schoolmasters to

sponsors, who pay the training fees (discounted by trainers) and help pay for the rider

licences and equipment. New jockeys, who would otherwise not have the opportunity, are

given a horse to ride in races and provided with coaching by the trainers. The aim is not

only to provide an introduction to race-riding for jockeys, but to attract staff for trainers.

Initially, Jockey Start is focusing on the Northern area as a pilot scheme, but Will hopes to

expand it nationwide and has already had applications from southern-based riders. Jockey

Start kicked-off last season with Coole Hall and Not The Chablis for Abi Reid and Jess Jubb

respectively and this year, has Not The Chablis for Jess again as well as Diable De Sivola

for Jesika Rennie and – of course – Wild Polly for Bekah.

Bekah en route to victory on Wild Polly at Hexham (Grace Beresford)

Bekah, where are you from and where do you live now?

I grew up in Otterburn, Northumberland, where I now work for Susan Corbett. But I live in

Hawick, in the Scottish Borders, so have to get up at 5.30 every day to start work at 7.00!

Talk me through your career in racing so far

I don’t have a background in racing, although Susan was a family friend and my older

brother Josh – who rode in point-to-points for a while – went there for a weekend job, which

got me into racing. We moved to Staffordshire when I was 12 and, while I’d had lessons

when I was very young, I had nothing else to do with horses until just before my 18th

birthday, when I learnt to ride and decided to move back North and work for Susan. She and

Josh taught me a lot, and I rode horses like Hills Of Connemara and Orlas’ Abbey.

I then went to the British Racing School at Newmarket and found a job with Neil King, where

I stayed for 18 months. I’m very grateful to Neil – he taught me high standards, really pushed

me, and gave me a chance to ride, improve and learn.

How did you become involved with Jockey Start?

My boyfriend Bradley works for Stuart Coltherd, so I moved back to the Borders to work for

Jackie Stephen, then applied to Jockey Start in July – I saw the ads on social media and

thought it was a brilliant idea, so sent my application to Will Ramsay. I went to work for

Susan again in the summer and explained that I was hoping to be part of Jockey Start and it

fitted in that, when I moved, Wild Polly was going to Susan’s as well – from Rose Dobbin –

and would be my ride for the season. Will thinks it’s better for their experience that each rider

has their own horse.

Talk me through Sunday

I was nervous the whole day, not so much about riding and jumping Polly, because I knew

she’d be happy and safe, but it was scary doing things like weighing out, as I didn’t know

anyone, or what to do. Luckily, I had help from Bradley and Josh, which took the pressure

off.

During the race, Josh had told me to wait, because Hexham has such a long run-in, although

I’d wanted to be handier, but wasn’t confident enough to push on. But I soon had tunnel

vision – it was just me and Polly jumping and it was so much fun and went so quickly. We

rolled down the hill, went up the inner and jumped the second last upsides the leader, which

is when I thought I had a chance. After the last, I just wanted to get to the finish and can’t

describe the panic as I could feel the second horse coming, but we held on by a neck.

I couldn’t believe it afterwards and didn’t know what to do – I couldn’t wait to get back to

Bradley and Josh and say, ‘I’ve done it!’ I’d been having a conversation with Natasha

Cookson beforehand and we’d agreed that it was rare to win on your first ride… but possible.

What are your plans for the rest of the season?

We’re hoping to go to Alnwick on the 15 th to run in the Ladies Open then keep going in the

New Year, at places like Alnwick again, and Friars Haugh.

What are your ambitions in racing?

It’s something I’ve always wanted to do but found hard and wanted to make sure I was ready

– that’s why Jockey Start is so good. I’d like to ride under rules, either as an amateur or a

conditional.

Which horse would you most like to ride?

I’d obviously love a spin on Constitution Hill! I’d also love to sit on Tiger Roll. He was my first

ever bet and I didn’t know much about racing at the time.

Which other jockeys do you admire?

She’s half a world away, but Michelle Payne (the first female rider to win the Melbourne

Cup). She’s pretty incredible and I wish I had her determination and strength. Seeing a film

about her made me want to get into racing.

What would you do if you were in charge of the sport?

The only thing I can think of is to help owners and trainers more. It costs so much to get a

horse to the track and the prize money only just about pays for the fuel. But you’d need a

magic wand to find the money!

What are your non-horsey hobbies?

Nothing – horses completely engulf your life.

Tell me something I wouldn’t know from asking these questions

There’s a photo of me aged ten, taken for World Book Day. Josh dressed me up as A P

McCoy and I was wearing Susan’s colours, the same as I wore to victory on Sunday.