I want Ascot dream again

HOLLIE DOYLE EXCLUSIVE

- DAVID YATES

WHAT a difference a year makes.

Twelve months ago, Hollie Doyle went to Royal Ascot as a 23-year-old jockey on the way up.

Now she’s firmly established among the elite of her craft.

“It set me off for the year,” is how Doyle describes her first victory at the most celebrated five days of horse racing, a 33-1 success aboard the Alan King-saddled Scarlet Dragon in the Duke of Edinburgh Handicap last June.

“I hadn’t had a huge amount of rides there and I felt like I’d only just got going, but it’s something I’d dreamt about for so long.

“It was a massive thrill – a massive privilege.

“A lot of jockeys have to wait an awfully long time to ride a winner at Royal Ascot, so it was unreal.”

The Herefordshire-born jockey’s career momentum took off from there.

Four months later, Doyle returned to Ascot for the richly-endowed QIPCO British Champions Day.

She partnered with the first Group 1 winner of her life – boss Archie Watson’s Glen Shiel in the British Champions Sprint.