Shropshire ace Rob Hornby on the fast track to success

Hornby, 26, landed the first group one win of his career with a faultless ride on the promising colt in western Paris in France.

The victory came in the historic Prix Royal-Oak held at Longchamp Racecourse – in not only Hornby’s first outing on the track, but the Chelmarsh-born jockey’s first ride in the country.

The win for the Ralph Beckett-trained horse marked a significant milestone for Hornby, who started 2021 under the knife and spent around half the year in rehabilitation from a horror shoulder injury, sustained in a bad fall at Wolverhampton, and subsequent surgery.

“It was unbelievable really,” Hornby told the Shropshire Star. “We work hard and are very busy but those are the days you do it for, the early mornings and disappointments that come with the job, it was very special to finally get that group one winner.

“It was actually my first ride in France and at the track as well. It was a crazy day, I flew out that morning, walked the track. All day I was looking at my phone and saw the horse was getting a lot of support, getting backed and I started to think ‘I’ve got a real good shout at this’.

“It was probably my best opportunity riding in a group one so far and the race went as I’d planned it in my head.”

The jockey predicts big things ahead for Scope. He added: “He’s a horse that stays very well. He ran in the British St Leger and things didn’t go his way, he was slow away and didn’t show his true running, I was delighted everything went smoothly and he got the job done really well. He’s a really exciting horse to look forward to next year for some of those big runs, especially Royal Ascot and the Gold Cup, those staying races.”

Former Bridgnorth Endowed student Hornby left his Shropshire roots behind at 16 to begin his apprenticeship under the renowned Andrew Balding. Ninety-five winners are required before professional status can be considered and Hornby believes his career began to blossom following the link with Beckett around three years ago.

Hornby added: “Fair play to Ralph and the owners for having a lot of faith in me to ride the horse on a track I wasn’t very familiar with.

“I don’t have any family over there and I had to get back, the next day I was at Leicester and then Catterick, I’m all over the place.

“I’m Shropshire born and bred, went to school there, but not had the chance to come back to Bridgnorth yet. But I had a good few drinks on Saturday night as we had a day off Sunday.”

Hornby’s previous best was a group two win on board Lavender’s Blue in the Celebration Mile at Goodwood in August. He also expects big things for Prosperous Voyage, who he rode to second in the Fillies Mile at Newmarket.

“It’s been a crazy time considering, because I had a bad fall and surgery at the end of last year, I didn’t get going until the middle of May,” he said. “I was dealing with a shoulder injury, I kept dislocating it, it’d keep coming out in races.

“It was a big job, You never quite know how you’re going to bounce back in this game, there’s always someone who can ride the horse, and there’s plenty of jockeys out there. But I had a flying start on my way back and haven’t looked back since.”

Hornby, who grew up on a farm, says mum Karen was a big influence in him taking to the saddle. His late grandmother Margaret also took him to Ludlow and Wolverhampton races as a young boy.

The jockey smiled as he recalled his family’s reaction to the big win: “It was funny, my brother Alex rang my mum, he was obviously really excited, mum was shopping in Aldi, she was like ‘oh what’s happened?’ he told her and I think she had a minor breakdown in one of the aisles!

“They were thrilled, everyone knows how hard it is and how hard we all work. When it all pays off it’s relief and joy, unbelievable and on to find the next one.”