Nicola Currie: Progress Fuels Her Drive

For a jockey who has been widely praised for her determination, Nicola Currie has not been immune to periods of self-doubt. A comparatively late-bloomer at 25, she struggled without any tangible reward for some years and even briefly dropped out of race-riding altogether as she contemplated her future.

Thrown a lifeline by trainer Richard Hughes, her turning point came in an apprentice handicap at Kempton on Dec. 20, 2016. The horse's name, by sheer serendipity, was Believe It (Ire) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}).

“I think it was probably after I rode my first winner, I then realised 'right, I can actually do this',” Currie recalls. “You kind of go out, and in your head you're not very good. Another ride, another ride, great, but you ride to ride and to learn and not for the winners. When you do get that winner, you get that 'sh*t, this is actually amazing and I could actually make a go of this'. To be able to watch the TV and go 'I looked a bit better there', and 'I could do that better'. Seeing myself progress, that gave me the kick up the bum more than anything.”

In another neat piece of symmetry, Currie notched the 100th winner of her career on that very same date, at Southwell last Thursday. She still rides out for Hughes once a week and is continuing a useful link with Newmarket trainer Phil McEntee. But the securing of a formal arrangement with Jamie Osborne, for whom she had that soul-searching tenure as well as her biggest victory to date on the well-backed Raising Sand (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) in a £180,000 handicap at Ascot, has clearly created particular satisfaction.

“I was absolutely stone-dead useless when I started there, he gave me my first few rides and I just wasn't dedicated enough at the time,” she says. “It took going to a bigger yard with Richard Hughes, which was fantastic, as the help he can give you is second to none after what he's done, along with my jockey coach John Reid.

“I'd just come to Lambourn, I wanted to be a jockey but I didn't know what it took. I thought you'd just swan in and I needed that kick up the bum, which I got. Jamie has been good to me, he knows what it's like, and for him to come back and see that I've realised you have to put every ounce of your time and effort in to make it work…he's almost given me a second chance.”

It was only in the early stages of 2018 when Currie started to get more widely noticed through a horse who became the face of the all-weather season. Spare Parts (Ire) (Choisir {Aus}), bought for a pittance by McEntee and owner Steve Jakes, gave her five wins and a ride on Finals day last Easter.

“Phil would watch the apprentices throughout the summer and at the start of every winter he would pick out who he thought was progressing,” she explains of the link. “His horses kind of need claiming off and luckily he'd been watching me ride and asked me.

“We had a lot of winners together and the publicity that came from Spare Parts was just unbelievable. So many people followed him and, being a front-runner, when you won on him people noticed.”

Currie speaks adoringly about Spare Parts, the handicapper with the amusingly mundane stable nickname 'Graham'.

“He's the most laid-back, placid horse you'll sit on. He's very genuine, and it's difficult to find genuine horses. Not every horse wants to gallop to the line and win, and if a horse joins you, you'll feel him try to find another gear even if he hasn't got one. The will he has to win…I've not sat on many horses that do that, even good ones.

“Phil's daughter Grace rides him every day and he's been going around Newmarket with antlers on his head. We still get messages every time he runs, saying people are watching out, best of luck and so on. It's brilliant, it really is.”

There has not been a triumphant resumption of the Spare Parts tale in three chapters this winter but his jockey urges his supporters to keep the faith.

“Everyone comes up to me and says he won't win off his mark, but I'm almost certain he will. He's grown upwards and outwards, he looks like a different animal to last winter. We forget that when we got him he'd had a few runs in his old yard under his belt, with the break he's going to take that bit longer to get back into it. We've been disappointed but he'll come back.”

McEntee's yard is one of those which should supply a steady stream of chances but Currie, who lost her claim in mid-November, is only too aware of the choppy waters post-apprenticeship. She talks candidly of the same risks prevalent to most freelancers in even taking a week's holiday lest a rival should swoop on one of her rides.

“It's tough, there are so many good jockeys now, you can be forgotten about in a few days.”

Nonetheless, Currie has the ability to stand out from the crowd. Open and friendly with a soft Scottish accent, she is a rare sporting success story from the isle of Arran. Her exploits have prompted the locals to switch the racing on in her local pub, and a small fan club has evolved. She is also very much part of the small wave of female rising stars, being awarded Lady Jockey of the Year at the recent Stobart Lesters, and can take encouragement from the strides that the likes of Josephine Gordon and Hollie Doyle have made. Much like her close friend Gordon, she does not exactly wear her brand of feminism overtly, but it is certainly visible.