'Pressure? It's brilliant!' - Kieran Shoemark can't wait for date with destiny on Field Of Gold

Kieran Shoemark is relishing the pressure of riding 2,000 Guineas favourite Field Of Gold at Newmarket next weekend as he looks to put a tough 2024 firmly behind him.

In a candid interview in Sunday’s newspaper, Shoemark opens up about facing criticism during a difficult first season as stable jockey to John and Thady Gosden.

This year, though, could hardly have begun any better for the 29-year-old, who won both major Classic trials at Newmarket’s Craven meeting, most notably on new 2,000 Guineas favourite Field Of Gold, who was cut to 9-4 following his impressive Craven victory.

That price seems increasingly generous the more Shoemark talks about him. "I haven't witnessed a horse who has done as well as him from two to three," he enthused about the son of Kingman. 

Kieran Shoemark: yet to taste Classic successCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

"He was a big, rangy horse at two and you felt that if he filled that frame he could be anything, and he has done. The potential was always huge but whatever he did then was going to be on raw ability, and now he's a bigger, stronger horse to look at and to sit on.

"He's strengthened so much and you can feel that when you're on him. He's got a great constitution and everything you want in a good horse. He's quick from the gates, he can settle off a nice pace, he can quicken, all the attributes a good horse should have."

Shoemark has no British Classics to his name and John Gosden, despite winning 12, has yet to win the 2,000 Guineas. But Shoemark shows no signs of feeling any discomfort from the pressure of expectation.

"Pressure? It's brilliant," he said. "Never complain about pressure. It's when you don't have pressure that you know things aren't going well. If you're feeling pressure it's because you're doing something right."

Read more from Kieran Shoemark in the Big Read, available in Sunday's newspaper or online for Racing Post+ Ultimate subscribers from 6pm on Saturday. Click here to sign up

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