Jockey Quotes

My first winner was on Legal Steps, in Ireland, at Thurles, in March 1992. I rode for Jim Bolger, and his stable jockey was Christy Roche.

The horse I bet on was so slow, the jockey kept a diary of the trip.

Black beauty - he's a dark horse.

Thoroughbred racing is really my true passion. I'm living my dream.

Elimination race is my thing. I really enjoy that event.

I get butterflies before going out to ride every day, but they disappear as soon as I am on a horse, and I think that is the same for most jockeys. Then it is just down to you and the horse, and there is a certain freedom in that.

We had six horses, and I would compete. Jumping. Cabinets full of cups. I always won.

I was determined my 4,000th winner would be in the green and gold colours of J. P. McManus and trained by Jonjo O'Neill, who have been my greatest supporters.

I've had a passion for horses since I was very young - I used to sit on the floor in front of the races on television and pretend to be a jockey - and I first began reading the racing form on the set of 'The Partridge Family.'

Horse racing is really much more intimidating than anything having to do with literature. When I had horses at the racetrack, I would wake up in terror in a way that I would never wake up while working on a novel.

At first I wanted to be a jockey. I rode horses in Cleveland but I kept falling off and I was afraid of horses. So there wasn't much of a future in it.

It's a rare and special feeling to ride a racehorse.

… human thoroughbreds

Joseph Beringer...dances around behind me singing some poorly rhymed and slightly dirty song about my [racing] odds at my skirts. 'I don't even wear skirts,' I snap at him. 'Especially,' he says, 'in my daydreams.

I have a secret passion for horse riding. I haven't done it for ages, but I used to have a horse. I love it; it's one of my favourite things.

The Worlds was great, Masters was great, but that was sort of mission accomplished with the Triple Crown.

If you could call the thing a horse. If it hadn't shown a flash of speed in the straight, it would have got mixed up with the next race.

Grand National Holiday

The National is about however long it takes to run that race - eight minutes of fame - but champion jockey is about racing 365 days a year. I actually wouldn't swap any of my winners for the National.

Everybody is talking about the Triple Crown, but I want to win the Open. That is my aim.

I had great faith in Prince Of Penzance, from the moment I rode him for the first time.

I crossed paths with a horse that happened to change my life. That horse is Game On Dude, and what a horse! He's a soldier. Together we traveled the world. We won the Santa Anita Big Cap, Goodwood, almost won the Breeder's Cup Classic; we won the San Antonio, Hollywood Gold Cup and the Californian.

I grew up riding. From the time I was nineteen years old to the time I was twenty five I exercised race horses.

The sport of horse racing which, at its best, showcases the majestic beauty of this animal and the athleticism of jockeys, has reached an alarming level of corruption and exploitation.

I was too heavy to be a jockey and too honest to be a producer, so I became a writer.