20-year-old Sam Scott, who works for professional trainer Ben Pauling, rode his first winner – in his second season – when Take All overturned hotpot Famous Clermont at Milborne St Andrew on Sunday 2nd February. Formerly a promising footballer, Sam turned to race-riding as a potential career aged 17 as a self-confessed ‘adrenalin junkie’ and has ambitions to turn professional eventually. Jake Exelby caught up with Sam following his debut success to chat about his path to the winners enclosure and why he feels pointing needs more exposure.
Talk me through your career in racing so far and how you got into point-to-pointing in the first place?
I was born in Surrey and moved to Ascot when I was young. Dad used to go racing there a lot and that’s where my love of the sport came from. I started riding aged eight and we moved to Cornwall when I was 16, when I started working for Alex Ede, and rode racehorses for the first time.
I’d been in the academies at Fulham and Reading and was thinking about going to Plymouth College to pursue a career in football, but Alex told me about the British Racing School, and my desire to be a jockey was greater than to be a footballer. I loved anything to do with speed – I felt the difference between racehorses and pony camp – so went to the BRS aged 17.
One of the instructors there, Mike Hammond, used to train pointers and he recommended Ben Pauling to me – Ben’s assistant Tom David used to ride for Mike. I’ve been there two-and-a-half years and the new yard at Naunton Downs is unbelievable. When I started, I just kept my head down and didn’t know much about pointing – but I became good friends with Beau Morgan, who was Ben’s amateur at the time, and he introduced me to the sport.
When I told Ben I wanted to ride in points, I started schooling Raven’s Tower (who won five points for Ben with Megan Fox in the saddle) and he called my parents and suggested Dominateur – who’d been placed in a Grade Two chase for Oliver Sherwood – as a nice safe horse to get me going.
Talk me through your first season
We had Dominateur with Annabel England – I rode at Ben’s with her son Elliot, who’s a good friend. He’s legs weren’t the best, so he needed soft ground, so we took him up to Sheriff Hutton for an Open (which Cheltenham Foxhunters hero Premier Magic won). I was absolutely hooked on the experience and thought it was something special.
After the race, we lost Dominateur to a heart attack at home, which was a kick in the bollocks! Ben didn’t have a pointer for me – Megan and Elliot rode his horses last season – so we turned to Beau’s brother Luca, who bought us a cheap maiden mare called Wheres My Wonder. Everything about Luca is totally professional – he was champion conditional jockey – and I really looked up to him.
Wheres My Wonder didn’t truly stay three miles and ran her best race over 2m4f at Cothelstone. She wasn’t really a racehorse, so we sold her as a riding horse.
How did you come by Take All and how has your season progressed?
We picked him up privately from Shark Hanlon. His trainer Myles Osborne saw he had potential, texted us about him at 10.30 and we’d bought him by midday! Myles trains near Ben – so I can ride him every day – and he was fit when we bought him, having run in the summer, so we eyed up the Open at Knightwick. He ran a really good race but was a bit cheeky and ran out going to the last – I think I’d have won as we had momentum, and he has a lot of speed.
I knew he’d be good enough for Hunter Chases and we ran him at Taunton over 2m5f because – although he stays all day – we wanted to utilise his speed. He ran well to be second to Angels Breath.
The plan has always been the Walrus Hunter Chase at Haydock next Saturday. We wanted to go to Hereford after Taunton but that was abandoned, so we entered him at Milborne St Andrew to get a run into him and hopefully finish in the first two to qualify for one of the Foxhunters. Even when Famous Clermont took the lead, I knew I had a lot of horse under me. We popped the last and took off and I never thought winning would feel so good. It was unbelievable to beat an Aintree Foxhunters winner.
We’ll enter him for Haydock and he’ll either run there or go straight to Cheltenham, where he should run a good race. I can’t ride him at the Festival as you need a Category B licence, and I have a Category A, but he deserves to be there.
What are your ambitions in pointing and racing?
I plan to turn conditional eventually but there’s no real rush – I’ll probably do another three or four years pointing – as I want to make sure I’m confident enough before I do. Every ride you have in a point-to-point gives you experience and allows you to learn from your mistakes and I think that some jockeys might feel they’ve gone professional too quickly.
I really respect Callum Pritchard. He had nearly 150 rides pointing and rode in all sorts of situations, and now he’s flying under rules.
I’m very driven when I have my heart set on something and want to improve myself as a person… and my riding!
Which other jockeys do you admire - rules and pointing?
Sean Bowen and Harry Cobden, obviously. When I was young, I was a big fan of Aidan Coleman. In point-to-points, Will Biddick and James King. James is such a natural horseman.
Who have been your favourite horses - rules and pointing?
Paisley Park’s been my favourite horse, which is one reason why I liked Aidan. Pointing, James rides Grace A Vous Enki, who always cleans up. It would be a good match if Take All bumped into him!
What would you do if you were in charge of the sport and what do you think will happen to pointing after a hunting ban?
I’d reach out to the likes of Sky Sports Racing and Racing TV, so they promote pointing more. Exposure for the sport and its riders is really important – I’d have loved to have done pony racing but didn’t have a clue about it. I’d also make more effort to get people to go to their local fixtures, to watch young riders starting their career.
I’m not politically educated but I think that if hunting stops, pointing will be limited and its source of horses for professional trainers will dry up as it will be harder to know what you’re buying.
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