Billy Loughnane: 'On my apprentice course I said I wanted to win the championship one day - but we didn't think it would be this year'
The teenage sensation and his father Mark discuss his journey from rocking horses to racehorses with Lewis Porteous
Back in November, Billy Loughnane was like a bear with a sore head. He was on a losing run of 26 rides and the wait for his first winner under rules was becoming unbearable.
"He kept saying, 'Dad, I need a winner,'" recalls his father, Mark. "We went away for a week to Dubai and on his last ride before we went he was beaten a nose at Lingfield. That trip from Lingfield to Birmingham airport was the longest two hours of my life – he was doing my head in!"
As is often the case, life looks a little rosier after a holiday and, returning to the track on a misty evening at Wolverhampton, Swiss Rowe put the young rider in the winner's enclosure for the first time. He was off and running.
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Published on 21 May 2023inInterviews
Last updated 18:32, 21 May 2023
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