'She went ballistic' - how 16-year-old Harry Cobden's first winner left him facing his mother's wrath

Harry Cobden skipped a GCSE English exam to ride his first winner under rules as a 16-year-old – and faced contrasting reactions from his parents.

Cobden was speaking to the Racing Post for a major interview in Sunday's newspaper in which he reflected on the obsession he sees in other riders, his success at the Cheltenham Festival, his thoughts on the whip rules and his rapid rise up the jockey ranks.

Although he had threatened to give up the game after finishing last on his first ride in a pony race, Cobden persisted and first made an impact in 2015. He should have been focusing on his GCSE exams that year but admits he more or less gave up on his schooling, including missing an English exam when he had a more pressing engagement on El Mondo in a hunter chase at Leicester. His mum, who found out about the clash of dates when the school rang to enquire after her son’s whereabouts, wasn't happy – but his dad being in the money cushioned the blow.

"She went ballistic," said the rider, "but my dad had 20 quid on it at 33-1. All round, it would have been bad news if it had got beat, but it's still a big regret that I didn't pay any attention for the last six months of my time at school.

"What's six months, after all? But when you're 16 it seems like forever. Luckily I turned out all right as a jockey because I don't know what I'd have done otherwise. I wouldn't have enough qualifications to work in McDonald's."

Harry Cobden with the winning connections of Old GuardCredit: John Grossick Racing

Later that year, Cobden’s career really took off when he won the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham in 2015 on Old Guard – not that it was all plain sailing in those early years.

“I went down to the last upsides Barry Geraghty and beat him, and back then it was the greatest thing that had ever happened to me," he said. "I'd made it, I was on the scene and everything was easy.

"The following week I rode seven favourites and they all got beat. I soon learned that you never know what's round the corner."

Read more from Harry Cobden in The Big Read, available in Sunday's newspaper or online for Members' Club Ultimate subscribers from 6pm on Saturday. Click here to sign up.

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