Future champion? Nicola Currie sets out title ambitions after 50th winner
Nicola Currie has set her sights on becoming this year’s champion apprentice after landing her 50th winner of the campaign at Chelmsford on Thursday and having her claim reduced to 3lb.
She reached the landmark on Rock On Baileys, trained by Chris Dwyer, whom she praised along with Phil McEntee for supporting her over the winter.
Currie, who is apprenticed to Richard Hughes, the three-time champion jockey-turned-trainer, said on Saturday: "In an ideal world I’d want to ride out my claim and establish myself as a stable jockey with Richard, because I've been there for nearly three years and it’s a big yard with big owners.
"There's a lot of competition, but my first aim is to become champion apprentice this year and then I'll move on to trying to be champion jockey, as I'm too determined not to focus on something."
Currie, 25, came to racing relatively late but now has just 45 winners to ride before she loses her claim. She is focused on big targets and has tasked herself with emulating fellow jockey Josephine Gordon, who became only the second woman to ride 100 winners in a year.
She said: "I always looked up to Josephine, so I’d love to ride 100 winners, and because she’s done it I'd want to ride one more than her!
"She's given the girls a big boost and I hope to make a similar difference by being recognised as a good jockey, not just a good girl jockey."
Of her 50 winners, Currie ranked Major Jumbo as her favourite. She rode him at Newmarket for Kevin Ryan and the victory at a big meeting helped put her on the map.
Her most prolific partnership has been with Spare Parts, a crowd favourite on whom she won five races over the winter for McEntee.
Members can read the latest exclusive interviews, news analysis and comment available from 6pm daily on racingpost.com
Published on 23 June 2018inNews
Last updated 16:15, 23 June 2018
- Merci Olivier! No final winner for Olivier Peslier but the world of racing unites in saluting the end of a great career
- The latest edition of the Racing Post is available to read online now - here's how you can access it
- How Smart View recorded a 76 per cent profit at the Cheltenham Festival
- Smart View is available on the Racing Post app - how to read the revolutionary new racecard
- Levy reform talks 'accelerating' as clock ticks down to April deadline for agreement
- Merci Olivier! No final winner for Olivier Peslier but the world of racing unites in saluting the end of a great career
- The latest edition of the Racing Post is available to read online now - here's how you can access it
- How Smart View recorded a 76 per cent profit at the Cheltenham Festival
- Smart View is available on the Racing Post app - how to read the revolutionary new racecard
- Levy reform talks 'accelerating' as clock ticks down to April deadline for agreement