{"id":194867,"date":"2025-10-12T12:14:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T12:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/194867\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T12:14:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T12:14:13","slug":"ben-curtis-any-job-can-get-stale-and-i-was-putting-in-a-lot-of-miles-and-hours-in-england-topics-mick-kinane-sea-the-stars-ben-curtis-keeneland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/194867\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Curtis: Any job can get stale and I was putting in a lot of miles and hours in England | Topics: Mick Kinane, Sea The Stars, Ben Curtis, Keeneland"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/Ben Curtis: more than 1,000 winners in the UK \u2013 and now a G1 winner in the US. Photo: Hodges Photography \/ Fair Grounds<\/p>\n

Our questions are answered by the prolific former British-based jockey who recently\u00a0 landed his first G1 win since moving to the US on Simply In Front at Keeneland<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Ben Curtis has no regrets about ditching Britain for the States and the success of Simply In Front in the recent First Lady Stakes at Keeneland \u2013 the jockey\u2019s breakthrough Grade 1 triumph \u2013 provided further vindication for his decision.<\/p>\n

The former Irish champion apprentice cut his teeth with John Oxx, who trained the legendary Sea The Stars, and Curtis was a pr\"Benolific member of Britain\u2019s weighing room for a number of years with more than 1,000 winners to his name before crossing the Atlantic in 2023.<\/p>\n

He hasn\u2019t looked back since. \u201cThe Grade 1 was a long time coming, a massive day,\u201d reflects Curtis, 36. \u201cIt meant more because I\u2019ve been friends with her trainer Eddie Kenneally for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Breeders\u2019 Cup could be next for Simply In Front according to Curtis, who credits trainer-turned-agent Ron Faucheux for his productive two years in the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m loving it,\u201d adds the husband to Shauna and father of Brodi and Cian. \u201cAny job can get stale and I was putting in a lot of miles and hours in England.<\/p>\n

\u201cI rode plenty of winners and was doing well \u2013 people said I was mad for leaving \u2013 but I thought a new challenge would be good, and I wanted to spend more time with my kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn England, I\u2019d leave the house before they were awake and would often get home when they\u2019re in bed. I didn\u2019t want them to grow up with me working all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which racing figure past or present do you most admire?<\/p>\n

\"\"I was blessed to work for John Oxx. We had Johnny Murtagh as stable jockey and then\u00a0Mick Kinane (right), while Niall McCullagh and Fran Berry were also there. I wouldn\u2019t pick four better people to learn from and I think Mick is one of the greatest jockeys of all time.<\/p>\n

I was there when Sea The Stars was around and it was unbelievable how he dealt with the pressure. That ride he gave Sea The Stars in the Arc was one of the best ever and he was always very good to me.<\/p>\n

Which is your favourite venue, and race, anywhere in the world?<\/p>\n

\"BenIt\u2019s hard to split Ascot and York, which are streets above anywhere else for their big meetings, but\u00a0Royal Ascot\u00a0is the pinnacle. When you ride a winner there it\u2019s something else, extra-special, and I love it. It\u2019s where everyone wants to be and I can\u2019t tell you how exciting it was looking at the entries and seeing what you could ride.<\/p>\n

As for a race, I\u2019d say the\u00a0Dubai World Cup\u00a0or\u00a0Saudi Cup\u00a0because of the prize-money!<\/p>\n

Who is your favourite racehorse and why?<\/p>\n

I think\u00a0Sea The Stars\u00a0is the best who has ever graced the turf. I was lucky enough to ride him out one day, but I remember leading Mick in a piece of work prior to the Arc for about ten strides before Sea The Stars came flying by. I\u2019ll never forget it because he worked like a sprinter that day. It\u2019s amazing what he achieved and John Oxx deserves plenty of credit because he was a genius with him.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

I had more to do with\u00a0Dandalla, who was very good. She never reached the top, but we won the Albany and Duchess Of Cambridge and then she went wrong. We knew she had something because we were thinking of Royal Ascot before she ever ran.<\/p>\n

What is your fondest memory in racing?<\/p>\n

\"GradeMy first winner,\u00a0Always On Top\u00a0at Gowran Park in 2006. I wasn\u2019t from a racing family and people said I wouldn\u2019t make it, so it felt like a breakthrough. Ruaidhri Tierney, a great friend, trained her, while my dad was also involved in her. Ruaidhri then became my agent and is one of the top agents in Ireland now; it felt like we both got to where we are today from that race.<\/p>\n

In time, it might be rivalled by\u00a0Simply In Front. I\u2019d been waiting so long for it and Brodi must have been the happiest person ever at Keeneland when it happened.<\/p>\n

If you could change one thing in racing, what would it be?<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to see Britain somehow sort out its format, so the money\u2019s going back into prize-money. Andrea Atzeni, Harry Bentley and others have gone to Hong Kong, but it\u2019s not just jockeys, it\u2019s the horses. Anyone at the lower end of the spectrum who has a nice horse has to sell it, normally abroad. It\u2019s a shame people who love British racing have to look elsewhere financially.<\/p>\n

Ben Curtis was speaking to James Burn<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0View the entire What They’re Thinking series<\/a><\/p>\n

David Hayes: I think Ka Ying Rising can earn comparison with Black Caviar<\/a><\/p>\n

Suraj Narredu: It was a big deal to come to Ascot and it was a big deal back home in India<\/a><\/p>\n

Karis Teetan: I never met Lester Piggott but he was legend and you always try to look up to someone like that<\/a><\/p>\n

View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses \/<\/a>\u00a0jockeys \/<\/a>\u00a0trainers \/<\/a>\u00a0sires<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Curtis: more than 1,000 winners in the UK \u2013 and now a G1 winner in the US.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-194867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}