Saffie Osborne: ‘I grew up understanding Royal Ascot was the pinnacle of our sport’

“Flying start” does not really do justness to Saffie Osborne’s tally of shape successful nan six weeks since nan 2026 Flat jockeys’ title sewage nether measurement connected nan first play successful May. Before racing connected Friday, nan 24-year-old was 5th successful nan title title pinch 22 winners from 132 rides – much wins than nan erstwhile champions Ryan Moore and William Buick combined. Any punter backing her unsighted since Guineas play astatine Newmarket is sitting connected a 45-point profit.

“I’ve been loving it,” Osborne said astatine Newbury this week. “I kicked disconnected nan play pinch 3 winners connected Guineas weekend, and had tons of winners done May astatine nan large festivals, and astatine bully tracks, a bully value of horses and stakes winners too.”

Osborne is good alert of “how quickly this crippled tin change”, having had only 1 injury-free play since starting retired arsenic an 18-year-old apprentice successful July 2020. Just 12 weeks aft riding her first victor that month, she suffered injuries including a surgery arm, dislocated wrist and punctured lung successful a autumn astatine Windsor that kept her disconnected nan way for 5 months.

But her latest tally of shape is simply a cleanable level for adjacent week’s Royal Ascot, nan showpiece arena of nan Flat racing play and a gathering wherever Osborne has endured respective near-misses but has not, arsenic yet, celebrated a victor from a full of 34 rides.

“If that was a onslaught complaint astatine immoderate different track, you’d think: ‘God, that’s awful,’” Osborne said this week, “but we each cognize really difficult it is to thrust winners location and Ascot’s really been a really fortunate spot for me. I’ve had tons of winners location but haven’t managed to thrust a Royal Ascot victor and that’s conscionable nan level of competition.

“I grew up knowing that Royal Ascot was nan pinnacle of our sport. I was very fortunate to watch Dad [the erstwhile jump jockey Jamie, now a trainer] train Royal Ascot winners increasing up, and arsenic a jockey, each you want to do is thrust Royal Ascot winners.”

Osborne does not hesitate earlier naming nan Richard Spencer-trained filly Gold Digger, owned by Phil Cunningham, successful nan Palace of Holyroodhouse Handicap connected Friday, arsenic her champion chance of a first Royal victor adjacent week.

“She’s truthful talented,” she says. “She looks for illustration she could beryllium a Group equine successful a handicap and hopefully she tin spell and show that adjacent week because Richard and Phil person had this scheme for a agelong clip pinch her, and they’ve been really diligent pinch her.”

Osborne will besides beryllium backmost aboard Owen Burrows’s Touleen, sixth location successful nan 1,000 Guineas successful May, successful Friday’s Group One Coronation Stakes – “She’s a really beautiful filly and I don’t deliberation we’ve seen nan champion of her yet” – and her father’s course-specialist, Hickory, successful either nan Royal Hunt Cup connected Wednesday aliases nan Buckingham Palace Stakes nan pursuing afternoon.

“We emotion Hickory and Hickory loves Ascot,” she says. “Punters astir apt dislike him because he has to beryllium dropped connected nan statement and ridden beautiful cold, but he’s a really cool horse.”

Saffie Osborne aft riding Goblet Of Fire to triumph astatine nan Guineas show gathering astatine Newmarket. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

Osborne’s prime of profession mightiness look preordained fixed that her begetter is simply a jockey-turned-trainer and her mother, Katie O’Sullivan, is simply a renowned equine artist. She admits too: “I astir apt wasn’t very pious astatine schoolhouse [because] I was perpetually trying to sneak retired to spell and thrust horses.”

But she is nan only 1 of 4 siblings to ride, and her early years successful nan saddle were focused connected eventers alternatively than thoroughbreds.

“I’ve sewage 3 older brothers and they wouldn’t cognize really to thrust a equine if you put them adjacent one,” Osborne says. “They wouldn’t moreover cognize really to put a caput collar connected one. And arsenic dada says, I’ve astir apt won nan familial lottery successful that sense, because they’re each complete six foot.”

Having 3 older brothers besides honed her people competitory instincts. “I don’t deliberation competitiveness was ever going to beryllium a interest pinch me,” Osborne says. “As a child, I conscionable loved competing and I loved riding, and it each benignant of fell into place. You’d deliberation having 2 reasonably horsey parents, that it would person been reasonably driven by them, but it ne'er was.

“I loved nan eventing, nan show jumping, each that stuff, and was very fortunate to do 3 European championships astatine younker levels, and it was erstwhile I started riding retired astatine 13 aliases 14 that I was really like: ‘I emotion this. This is amazing.’”

Osborne’s profession of prime was duly decided, and moreover an early reminder of nan risks attached did not seduce her otherwise. “I still can’t retrieve immoderate of it, and I tin watch it backmost without emotion thing towards it. I deliberation your encephalon blocks retired definite things and I’m astir apt happy, I don’t retrieve it.

“But I knew that [injuries happen] earlier I started. I grew up successful a racing yard. I grew up knowing that Dad was a jockey and I’ve been watching racing each time of my life since I was tiny. I deliberation it’s much stressful for them [her parents] than it was for maine arsenic they weren’t astatine nan races, truthful they spot maine autumn but past nan camera keeps going and you don’t cognize whether I’m each right.

“But location was ne'er immoderate mobility astir whether I was going to support going aliases not arsenic portion of this game.”