3 minute read
Sam King sat down with jockey Callum Shepherd to discuss both the busy all-weather period and upcoming 2024 targets.
Racing's fixture list has come under scrutiny in recent months and with the current cold snap forcing National Hunt meetings to be abandoned left right and centre, the strain on an already busy period for all-weather racing continues to grow.
Callum Shepherd is a name that has featured prominently on all-weather race cards in recent weeks, with the East Sussex-born jockey racking up nine winners from a staggering 47 rides over the last fortnight. However, Shepherd, who spoke passionately about the introduction of all-weather racing on a Sunday evening recently, was keen to once more voice his opinions surrounding the busy schedule.
Shepherd said: "In my career, riding on the all-weather has been something of a lull in terms of the intensity compared to riding through the summer. Historically, you'd certainly be likely to get a Sunday off. Sunday racing through the winter was always pretty rare until now, and that's even before giving any thought to the Sunday evening racing.
"Certainly over the last year, it's been noticeable that there's just not been that let up at all really, especially with the added Sunday racing."
Like plenty of jockeys on the all-weather circuit, Shepherd has found days off few and far between, with the 26-year-old being present at the racecourse on all bar one occasion since the turn of the new year.
"The abroad trips I've been riding, that's my own choice, but I think this year there's been a definite shift and I think it's definitely down to Sunday racing. Before you might have had a day off throughout the week when there was a Newcastle on or something and you didn't have to go up there if there was only one meeting. You could usually rely on a Sunday off, but there's not been a let-up at all, I've had a lot of rides and we've been very busy. Normally you could ride through the winter as if you are not flat out but basically, the schedule is no different at present as to what it is throughout the summer now. You don't feel as though you're in a lull period at all. It's busy and you have to find ways to manage it."
Although it's been a busy start to the year for the avid Brighton and Hove Albion fan, it's certainly been a bright one as well, with eleven winners on the board domestically and two notable successes in Bahrain courtesy of the George Scott-trained pair Isle Of Jura and Rockey Rodney. Shepherd also enjoyed four rides at Meydan last Friday but admits the hectic British schedule does make life tricky when attempting to compete
domestically and in the Middle East, having ridden at Southwell on Thursday and Wolverhampton on Saturday.
"The thing that makes a lot of difference is thankfully, for me, it's going well. In general, I'm riding winners and riding at Meydan is pretty special and it's not easy to get rides there. I ended up with four rides out there last week so that was quite exciting. It's hectic, especially doing it the way I did it where you don't miss a day's racing. It's quite hard and the way I managed it was by getting a driver and then I upgraded to business class at my own expense so I could get a good night's sleep. Going to places like Meydan though is exciting and a real privilege to get those rides. It offers something different and breaks up the monotony in some ways of just riding night after night on the all-weather."
2023 was a successful season for the Newmarket-based rider, who teamed up with old boss William Knight to claim Listed honours on board Checkandchallenge at Newmarket last November. However, Group-race success still eludes Shepherd, but it is something he's keen to put right in the upcoming season.
"I'm looking forward to it. I'm hoping I can ride in more of the big races and be more involved on the bigger stage. Hopefully, we've got the vehicle to do that, that's the hope going into the season and with the support I'm getting between David Simcock, George Scott, Michael Bell etc, it would be nice to get some opportunities in those big races."
Having ended the 2023 calendar year with 81 winners, just three short of his career-best tally of 84 in 2021, the 26-year-old firmly has the century mark in mind heading into 2024 and strongly believes that the number of winners and quality of horses often go hand in hand.
"The main target would have to be riding a hundred winners. I've been in the mid-80s twice, last year with an injury where I think I missed the best part of six weeks. I don't think that was the difference, but 100 winners would be a real big target of mine and I think once you are riding that volume of winners the quality inevitably flows so both targets probably go hand in hand."
