Legendary jockey Steve Cauthen is hoping to become a Royal Ascot winner again - 31 years after he retired from the saddle.
During a prolific career Cauthen became one of the greatest jockeys of all time, in the US where he rode Affirmed to Triple Crown success in 1978 aged 18 and after he moved to Britain where he was champion on three occasions during the eighties.
He was leading jockey at Royal Ascot four times and now he has teamed up with US Royal Ascot specialist Wesley Ward to race a two-year-old he hopes will be good enough to compete at next month’s fixture.
Holding The Line, owned by Cauthen, will make his debut in the Royal Palm Juvenile at Gulfstream Park in Florida on Saturday where victory will secure an automatic start in one of Royal Ascot’s six two-year-old races and a $25,000 travel allowance.
“I was invited over last year for the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations and I enjoyed myself so much that I wanted to find a way to come back,” he said.
“I was over there last fall and I was trying to help a client buy some horses and as I was leaving I thought it would be fun to try this.
“I’ve been involved with Wesley Ward before and this is what he likes doing and he said, ‘You gotta get back over there Stevie, they love you.’ So we picked out this horse and we are going to have a go to see if we can do it.”
Cauthen, who became first jockey to Henry Cecil, won ten British Classics, including the Derby on Slip Anchor and Reference Point and the fillies’ Triple Crown on Oh So Sharp and returning to his Kentucky birthplace after he retired in 1992.
Last year’s trip was his first to the meeting for 20 years.
“I remember last year by being there how much fun it is,” he said. “I have a lot of good friends, people who were rooting for me when I was there and they are still rooting for me.
“It will be a big deal if we can do it.”
