'I enjoyed the riding at Cheltenham. The rest of it? I didn't enjoy it at all'
Patrick Mullins talks to the greatest big-race jockey of his generation
The times don't change. We do.
A middle-aged man stands on the edge of the gallop looking into the distance. His knees are always slightly bent, his shoulders rolled in and his back never straight, yet he stands tall somehow. Call it presence. It's in the eyes and the grin, I think. Intelligence.
Yet he's now one of those curious things: a retired star. You're either doing it or you're not. There's no belly, however, unlike some, and the hair was always grey to be fair. The cape is gone, though; he's a superhero no more. Bruce Wayne never got grey, Clark Kent didn't age, Peter Parker didn't retire. Our heroes aren't supposed to stop, to set aside the mask, to step back. But outside of the comic books they inevitably do. I think it ages us as much as them.
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Published on inInterviews
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- 'Other trainers say how difficult it is to get staff, but I can't say the same - when people come here, they seem to stay'
- 'People love having horses with Willy rather than a miserable git like me'
- 'It's tough financially and last year I said I might get a job driving a lorry instead - although to be fair I'd probably crash!'
- 'I'm not here to tell people how to train but if you hide something from me, I'm gone, I'm done - and you won't see me again'
- 'I had to fly back from Saudi on the day for the awards before flying back the following day but it really was a great evening'