Rachel King will take two rides at Royal Ascot on a “working honeymoon” after getting married at the weekend.
King, 33, who was brought up in Oxfordshire but has not ridden in Britain for 11 years, tied the knot to Australian racing manager Luke Hilton in Oxford. But the honeymoon will be short and sweet as she is going to ride Highland Bling, a winner last time out, for Jessica Harrington in the King George V Handicap on Thursday and Strutting for John and Thady Gosden in Friday’s Sandringham Stakes.
King was a point-to-point rider here but is now a multiple Group One winning jockey on the Flat in Australia. She and Hilton visited Royal Ascot on the Tuesday of last year and after so many people – including her father – asked why she was on her feet as a spectator, she decided to make an effort to get some rides this year. She secured the services of Tony Hind, Ryan Moore’s agent, on the recommendation of the jockey who she met while riding in Japan during the winter.
Originally King wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps into the point-to-point world – he rode the first ever winner at Kingston Blount and trained a few – and initially considered the Flat, about which she knew nothing, as “boring”. But former trainer Joe Tuite kept insisting that she was the right weight to pursue a career on the Flat if she wanted.
After one winter and just one winner as an apprentice, she switched back to being an amateur and joined Clive Cox, who was a guest at Sunday’s nuptials, doubling up as a secretary who rode a few in amateur races.
Just over a decade ago King decided to go to Sydney for a two-month holiday and, well, she is still there. She even speaks with an Australian accent. Indeed, though she describes herself as a “part-time Australian,” she and Hilton were celebrating the Aussie mare Asfoora’s victory in the King Charles III Stakes, along with hundreds of other Australians, in the car park after racing on Tuesday.
The club of British female jockeys who have ridden Group One winners can still be counted on one hand but she is one of them, the first of five of them coming in 2018. She has also ridden in the Melbourne Cup twice.
“For a while it looked like I’d be on my feet again but it’s fantastic to have a couple of rides,” she said. “Tony is confident both horses have nice chances. My last ride at Ascot was in the Longines Ladies Handicap when I rode Den’s Gift for Clive Cox in 2011!”
She added: “It’s lucky we’re both working in racing so Luke understands and we’re going to Italy for a proper break next week before returning to Australia.”
Back in Sydney, King is enjoying a good season. “Last year was the best in terms of prize-money, the class of races I was riding in and quality of horses,” she said. “An Ascot winner would cap it all though.”
