One of the all-weather circuit's in-form jockeys Grace McEntee has booked a one-way ticket to the United States to seek new challenges.
The 22-year-old apprentice daughter of Newmarket trainer Phil McEntee has secured her visa and hopes to be riding at Turfway Park in Kentucky from next week.
McEntee has ridden 72 career winners, four of which came over the last eight days, but her mind was already made up to head overseas.
“There is no date to come back, it’s just a one-way ticket at the moment,” she said. “I could be there for months or may be there a bit longer."
“I’m at the stage where I am still young enough to do something like this and I have an opportunity to ride out there and hopefully earn some good prize-money.
“The way things are going here, the prize-money is poor and the opportunities are more limited than they would be in the States. I think I would be stupid not to try and earn a better living.”
McEntee already has family in the US. Her brother Jake is assistant to leading trainer Kenny McPeek and her uncle Paul is a trainer. Another apprentice Tyler Heard will be joining her.
“Three of my uncles and my brother are all based in Kentucky,” she added. “I am going to head there. Turfway is where we will be racing for the next three months and then we move onto Churchill Downs and then Keeneland, so I will be doing the Kentucky circuit.
“Tyler Heard is my boyfriend and he is going to come with me to race ride out there and see what we can do. If things don’t work out we can always come back and be in the same position we are now.”
