My Prospero firing Marquand dreams in big year ahead
There are more seagulls on the resplendent white infield – and many more floodlights – than punters. The bookmaker count is up to two. And there it shall stay.
One moderate horse after another is announced to less than a handful of die-hards as they circle wearily around the parade ring, replete with its bank of shovelled snow.
Our hero stands outside the weighing room on a bitterly cold January afternoon, a brusque wind thwacking his silks.
He is already sat on a 61-rated 25-1 chance in an extended nine-furlong handicap that takes an extended eternity to run. Later, he will be riding two similarly modest beasts, both of whom finish runner-up in head-to-head battles of mediocrity.
No matter. These are the days of toil and moil, ones that keep you mindful.
And far from despondent, Tom Marquand still cannot quite believe his luck.
They will have to go some before having a jockey-trainer relationship to match the longevity of George Duffield and Sir Mark Prescott. Yet given the warmth the 24-year-old rider has for William Haggas, it would be a brave man to bet against anything coming between their burgeoning partnership. Even if one of those two bookies would lay that bet.
This is all a far cry from Japan, where he and his wife, fellow jockey Hollie Doyle, spent a hugely successful riding spell at the end of last year.
On a bleak, raw afternoon such as this, it was only right to look to sunnier days and try to turn nuggets of negative into pebbles of positivity. Or in his case, boulders of belief, particularly in the Haggas horses.
“Quite a lot excites me to be honest,” says Marquand, his eyes sparkling and voice rising with anticipation.
“I went into the yard earlier in the month for the first time since coming back and you are probably almost guilty about forgetting some horses, because you get excited about others, and then you remember you’ve got yet another good one there.”
The softly-spoken, considered Haggas, who handled top-class colt Baaeed so brilliantly last term, does not have that big gun to fire, now that he’s gone to stud. There are still some powerful bullets in the barrel, however
Marquand explained: “To be honest, we have a really strong-looking team going into this year.
“The two that probably stand out the most, just because of the way their season went, are My Prospero and Maljoom.”
My Prospero was unfortunate not to have won all of his five starts last season, being touched off in the St James’s Palace Stakes and on his return to Ascot in the Champion Stakes.
Maljoom won the German Guineas before suffering all sorts of trouble in running in the St James’s Palace under the unfortunate Cieren Fallon, going down just half a length to Coroebus.
“They are both Group One horses that didn’t get their Group One on their cards for various different reasons,” said Marquand. “It was unfortunate, but they are two extremely exciting horses.
“I saw My Prospero and he looks an absolute monster. He looks gorgeous and he’s strengthened as well.
“The Champion Stakes was rated the second-highest race in the world and he was beaten half a length. To be honest, I thought things didn’t really go our way with the way the race set up, so it really poses the question of what might be to come with him.
“Maljoom, as well, had a pretty torrid time. He was unlucky at Ascot after winning the German Guineas. He then got sick and had a bad run at it, basically. He is one to look forward to, definitely.”
The 24-year-old feels he is in the best possible place, riding for a man who is effusive in his praise and slow to chide.
“It has been a nice relationship, even away from the trainer-jockey side,” said Marquand of the Newmarket handler.
“I’m lucky to have found someone who looks after me and treats me well.
“I think when you are young as well, it is so important because, realistically, even if you’ve had a bit of success, you are still trying to mould your career the right way.
“How many jockeys at 23 or 24 had a career and by the time they are 26 or 27 it’s gone? There’s a lot.
“To have someone like that… and it is not just him, it is Maureen (Haggas’ wife and assistant) and the lads at home, and the travelling lads.
“I don’t know, but for whatever reason, they have created a proper team. Everyone is invested. It is not like, ‘Oh we just work for him and we just do our job, and that’s it. Everybody is in for the long haul.”
In a stark reminder that this often beautiful sport can sometimes be equally brutal, Doyle suffered a broken elbow in a fall at Wolverhampton a couple of weeks ago. There is no timescale for her return to the saddle.
Yet if ever there was an old head on young shoulders, it belongs to her husband.
Grateful for the career he has and the good friends he works for, Marquand is appreciative and pragmatic.
“It is humbling,” he adds. “When stuff like that happens, nothing is a given.
“You are not going to wake up tomorrow morning and go and get on a Group One horse or anything like that – you might not be able to get up to ride a Group One horse, even if you have found it.
“It is racing. It is all sport. So it is pretty easy to keep it all in perspective, to be honest.”
