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Future champion? Nicola Currie sets out title ambitions after 50th winner

Nicola Currie: could make Champions Day history
Nicola Currie will now claim 3lb following her 50th winnerCredit: Mark Cranham

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."

Spare Parts and Currie being led out by trainer McEntee at Lingfield
Spare Parts and Currie being led out by trainer McEntee at LingfieldCredit: Claire Mackay

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.


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Published on 23 June 2018inNews

Last updated 16:15, 23 June 2018

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