A brief look at two jockeys

Frankie Dettori and Richard Hills try to find the perfect balance between their families and career. They work almost 12 months a year, split between the UAE, UK, or Ireland, but they are still dedicated to their job

A jockey’s life must seem strange to the rest of the world, but it is routine to the jockeys themselves. They can never truly be off duty and relax since there’s always that small matter of weight playing on their mind!

A slap-up meal and excessive celebration is something the majority of jockeys cannot afford with their never-ending battle against the scales. They work almost 12 months a year, split between the UAE, UK, or Ireland.

Richard Hills remains the winningest jockey in the UAE and it was only last season that he actually took time off to delay his arrival in the UAE to have a family holiday. The balance between family and career is clearly a difficult one.

Hills explains, “We went to New York and I took my son to Disneyland. I wanted to take him on holiday, while he still wanted to go with his dad. He is 15 now and I taught him to water ski last year. Initially, he came with us and was educated in Dubai until he was nine. Now, he boards in the UK and goes home on the weekends.

“Jaci’s parents (Hills’ in-laws) house sit when we are away. The arrangement works well and it’s a long-established routine.”

The house sitting duties also extend to the Hills’ menagerie - dogs, mares, foals, peacocks and ornamental ducks amongst it. Home, by the way, is three cottages converted into a large residence set on about 30 acres of paddocks on the outskirts of Newmarket.

“The peacock was my school mascot and has always brought me luck; those birds are so elegant. The ducks are great too. I have six pairs and they are quite rare and difficult to breed. It’s lovely to go and watch them on the pond and a welcome distraction. I check for eggs daily. I was always a big wildlife fan.

“Rocky (the parrot) is an African grey and exceptionally talkative. He never shuts up.”

A jockey in England basically spends three and a half months driving around the country seven days a week - riding work and racing at one or two meetings a day.

Hills’ Peugeot 607 covered about 60,000 miles the previous summer. Not surprisingly, he employs a driver: “It is much better, as I can read the form, deal with phone calls, just relax or perhaps sleep. The travelling is the worst part – without a driver, you can arrive at the races in exactly the wrong frame of mind!

“I am off flying after Frankie’s crash – I was due to have flown with him that day.”

He rides work on average four times a week, once for Marcus Tregoning, in Lambourn, which is a two-hour drive early in the morning.

Summer retreat

There is little spare time during the summer so the occasional round of golf is a real treat and Hills has just re-discovered the distraction of shooting: “I went a few times over Christmas. I had not been for about 10 years and I enjoyed it.

"It was nice of the boss - Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance and Industry - to let me have the break.”

Like a lot of jockeys, Hills is a big fan of Chinese food and has a couple of favourite restaurants, which are regular haunts among the Newmarket racing fraternity.

But he has to watch what he eats: “I am lucky as I now know what I can and what I cannot eat. I eat one meal daily, usually in the evening and follow it up with a cold drink after racing. It comes with experience!”

“In Dubai, I play golf as often as possible - upto three times a week - and John Carroll and Frankie (Dettori) are my regular partners. We just relax and have fun - the rule is we don’t talk about racing and that’s great.

“A jockey’s life in the UAE is different – we race a maximum of four days a week to start with. We tend to socialise less as the weight is harder to maintain and my diet is much stricter. I tend to eat lunch whenever possible as I have all afternoon and evening to burn off the calories.”

The Peugeot 607 is replaced by a Nissan Patrol, while the Hills have an apartment in the Trade Centre: “We are so used to moving from one to another that it seems natural now.

"It just takes a week to get back into the routine wherever we are. It is always busy when we first return with all the friends and racing people to catch up with".

It is clear Hills misses his son and looks forward to each visit: “He goes from school to the airport when he breaks up. We phone at weekends but the time difference and his school hours make it difficult in the week - at least there are text messages and e-mails!”

Champion jockey

His golf partner and UK champion jockey Frankie Dettori returns to Dubai around the end of January each year and rides out regularly for Godolphin.

He told the Godolphin website: “I get to know the characters of the three-year-olds I have not ridden before, learn about the new horses and find out the way the others have changed. I usually know the older horses.

"It’s all about getting ready for the Classics and all the other big races. I remember every horse’s name, what it’s done and its character, but I don’t remember people’s names - if I meet someone, I probably have to ask their name ten times. I have a very selective memory!”

Dettori rides his first horse at around 6.30am and finishes at 9am, when “I usually go back to bed for a couple of hours, or until lunchtime.

“Then I stay by the swimming pool with the family or, if I am allowed, go and have a round of golf with the boys.

“At about 5pm, I put on my tracksuit and I do a lap of the track. Four times a week at 6pm, I have a massage for an hour. Then I take the family out for a bit of dinner.

“We are very lucky in Dubai that we do not have to do a lot of travelling to get to race meetings.”

In April, the jockeys return to the UK where they travel constantly around the 59 racecourses.

Dettori says, “I am up a bit later in England and reach the gallops about 7am. I go straight to the gym after I get home. I have my own running machine and aim to lose on average 2lb to 3lb each morning. I put the weight back on at night.

“The first race is normally at 2pm in England and I have to get to the racecourse an hour earlier, which usually means leaving about 11am.

“I ride in five or six races and don’t get home until about 7.30pm, just in time to see the children go to bed. Then, there is time for a bit of dinner.

“My routine has changed a lot since I was an apprentice. I have got children now and basically my life revolves around them - earlier, I had only myself to look after!”

Jockeys also need to keep abreast of the racing in the UK - how their mounts are faring in their absence and how their friends in the saddle are getting on.

There’s a real camaraderie in the weighing room and you will often see jockeys watching the UK racing together, sharing a coffee.

Their phones are always ringing - be it somebody congratulating them on a winner, or a colleague from the UK catching up on gossip, or boasting of a good win.

One can always catch former UAE champion Gary Hind watching a football match - or you will hear him if his beloved Middlesboro are playing! That said, now he’s also a father so may not