From Heartbreak to Triumph: How a Jockey Overcame Setbacks to Claim a Shocking 100-1 Victory at Ascot

WHEN Jason Watson rode past the post in front at Ascot on Saturday and punched the air in one of the biggest Group 1 races of the season it was a cathartic moment of emotional dumping.

Champion apprentice. Sacked from a job he valued highly.

Jason Watson went from wondering where the heck his career was going – to riding 100-1 Ascot winners and being presented a trophy by the QueenCredit: PA

Decisions on whether to move up North or stay South.

Rows with his parents.

Dad having a heart attack while he was riding at Windsor.

Watson’s young career has had it all.

But throughout it the young man brought up in Brighton has only ever thought one thing – he can be best of the best.

On the back of his incredible 100-1 success on the Charlie Hills-trained Cicero’s Gift in Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, sit back and, with me, take in the Watson story so far…

Watson is the son of a postman in Tim and a mum, Jenny, who “did everything” from “working for the council, a taxi driver, a cleaner and dog walker”.

Watson left school at the age of 13 having watched racing on the TV at home and saying to himself: “I want to be at Royal Ascot. Be up with the big boys.”

Taking up his story, Watson says: “You envisage how things are going to play out and before I had my licence I knew I wanted to be a jockey.

“I started in 2017 at Andrew Balding’s yard. I had two winners that year. It was a bit tough. I didn’t expect to come into it and find it easy.

“But I knew I was at the best place and had seen how other apprentices had done there like Oisin Murphy and Eddie Greatrex. I thought it would go well.

“But it didn’t take off immediately and I wondered if by leaving school early I had given myself a tall order.

“Racing was what I wanted to do and what I thought I could be good at. I put everything into it. I wondered if Andrew would think I was good enough.”

Then, in 2018, things picked up.

“Jeremy Scott trained a horse called Miss Minuty and I won three times on her,” Watson says.

“Things got rolling and Andrew could see what I could do. I switched agents to Tony Hind when the season started and he was telling me I would be champion apprentice.

“‘Work hard and keep your head down’ he would say to me.

“People say these things and you never quite know. I was going to the races and if I didn’t ride a winner I would pull my hair out.

“Of course it’s impossible to ride a winner every day of the year – but that’s how competitive I am and still am.

“Then 2018 was unbelievable. I had 111 winners and was champion apprentice.

“But it happened so fast and I didn’t have a chance to appreciate it. I never had time to even think about it.

“It was only when I was crowned champion apprentice on Champions Day that I realized what I had achieved.

“Rossa Ryan was my main rival then and I think it was the most winners an apprentice had since the seasons changed.

“I was picking up rides for Godolphin and had an offer to go to Dubai for the winter, but I asked a few people I trusted and I opted to stay.”

Staying had its drawback.

“I had a fall at Kempton broke my back and neck – off for three months,” Watson continues.

“Tony said to me there were four job offers on the table when I came back – but Roger Charlton was the one that seemed the right one.

“I don’t think I had even ridden for Roger at the time. It was a strange one. But Tony was sure it was the right job and I went with it.

“In 2019 I had 97 winners and Quadrilateral won the Group 1 Fillies Mile. It was so good.

“It seemed nothing could go wrong.

“Having a Group 1 horse in the yard made a massive difference.

“I finished that season thinking I had done my job. But I felt I was always having to prove myself.

“Over the winter I went to Mauritius and flew to Hong Kong to ride Aspetar.

“I remember having a great chat with the boss (Charlton) and had a bit of a laugh and a few drinks. We were excited for 2020.

“Having come back from Australia where I spent a couple of months, everything was good.

“I was riding plenty for Juddmonte and scored in France on Hugo Palmer’s Collide.

“At home the yard was good but then came Covid. Quadrilateral was third in the 1000 Guineas as the favourite and rightly so.

“But the race didn’t go to plan and I couldn’t get her relaxed as I wanted.

“I thought I’d done well to get third but it was very deflating for everyone involved that I couldn’t get my first Classic winner.

“From then the season was never flowing and the pressure seemed to be on. I could feel it from the team at home.

“I knew I had to step up but there wasn’t much I could do.

“Then there was Headman, who I couldn’t get settled in the St James’s Palace Stakes. He was a Group 1 horse for sure. But he didn’t win one.

“Being a 19-year-old going on 20 then it was a shock and a knock to the system. I didn’t know how to deal with it.

“Roger and I really did get on well. He would send me funny messages and he was always fun. But I sensed there could be problems.

“Quadrilateral ran all right in the Coronation Stakes but in the middle of 2020 I was thinking I’m not going to have this job next year.

100-1 hero Cicero’s Gift and Jason Watson pose after their unbelievable QEII win at AscotCredit: PA

“But I did my best and hoped things turned around.

“It got to Sandown in July and I rode Withhold. I gave the horse a terrible ride and made a massive error.

“I came in and Roger wasn’t happy and I deserved everything he said. I went too slow.

“Roger had already told me that I might not be riding all the horses as the first jockey.

“Then after this he messaged and said he thought it was best we didn’t continue. That people weren’t happy.

“It was hard to take. No one likes to lose a job.

“And there was a chance there were good horses there waiting for me.

“I want to make it clear I never had any thoughts other than good ones about Roger.

“I thanked him for the support and really appreciated the job and that was that.”

What next for the champion apprentice who had gone from 111 winners in 2018 to just 36 in 2020?

Watson said: “I had a call with Amo Racing at the time – but nothing came of it.

“However, I thought about it a bit and called them up. The morning I phoned it was announced Rossa Ryan had just signed. I couldn’t believe it. The timing was incredible.

Nothing was going right

“Rides were drying up. Communications were going bad. I was panicking. It was stressful. I felt very anxious. Nothing was working out.

“Then I split with Tony Hind. I thought it might be good to stay on the all-weather over the winter and try and become champion. We had a difference of opinion.

“So I had lost everything.

“It had gone so quickly from something to nothing. And I had lost all my guidance.

“Being young I didn’t have the substance of a high profile rider or the experience to back me up.

“I felt I had done what everyone says about apprentices. Been at the top, lost my claim and ended up with nothing.

“I didn’t believe it at the time. I thought I could prove otherwise. But automatically everyone thinks that. You can’t change it without the horses. I was labelled as ‘gone’.

“I was out of control of my destiny. I had no answer to how I could get on the right path.

“To me it was a disaster. I never imagined it being this bad.

“All I had left was my family – my mum and dad.

“I didn’t grow up in the industry and their knowledge is limited.

“It’s hard to find a solution with people who don’t understand the job in hand.

“We had heated discussions and I was difficult and my parents had to take a lot of heat. I didn’t feel any better for it.

“I wasn’t raised to feel sorry for myself. But people were looking at me and thinking everything had an impact on me. And it had. They were right.”

Three months after finishing with Charlton the phone rang and it was a call from David O’Meara.

“I looked at him as a very, very good trainer,” Watson continued.

“I thought it might be hard to find the Group horses but he has winners.

“However I was worried about losing connections down South.

“I thought I could end up in the North with nothing.

“For me there is a separation between Northern and Southern racing. I was concerned.

“I wanted to be based in the South. It seemed to me the place to be.

“But I said to David I’d come up and be part of the team but I didn’t want to live there. David was fine and I went in behind Danny Tudhope, who was No1.

“Travel was hard. I was getting up at 3am in the morning but I felt like part of the family and we had a great year. Then Chris Dixon came on board as my new agent.

“I ended up with the chance to ride Lord Glitters in the 2021 Bahrain Trophy and it was a great opportunity. Just being in the race. That someone had put me up in a big race.

“And he goes and wins at 40-1. I thought it would be make a massive change.

“But again things didn’t go quite as quickly as I wanted. I moved up North for a few months to try and make it work. But it just wasn’t.

“I thought maybe I should come back South a lot more – take a step back from David’s as I didn’t want to fall out. I thought I might be blamed again.

“So I came returned and rode out for Andrew Balding a lot more and went to Qatar to look after a horse for him and ride it.

“Andrew said come back in and ride out again.

“He said ‘I’ve always liked you as a rider and we miss having you here. I can’t promise you loads but you will get a share’.

“In hindsight it was the right thing. I still get rides for David and we have never had a fallout.

“The last couple of years I’ve put in more graft. Riding out for Ollie Sangster and Charlie Hills.

I can be difficult to be around

“It’s always hard to know where to go. Where you might get an opportunity and find a good horse.

“Going through all I did and having the high and lows has meant I deal with things a lot better now.

“This job isn’t good all the time – it’s probably more difficult most of the time than it is rewarding. But I don’t let that affect me now.

“Chris has been there for me and has made a huge difference. For someone who had never done the job I rode 81 winners the first season with him as my agent.

“I’m difficult. I’m very determined and passionate. My harshest critic.

“I don’t like losing and I don’t like not being the best I can be.”

And so to the here and now and THAT win on Cicero’s Gift.

Watson, who struggled to hold back the tears live on ITV, said: “In that moment – as I crossed the line – I’m looking back at the tough times I have had.

“The work I have put in to just try and get a ride in a race like that. Let alone win one. That’s all going through your mind in those seconds.

“I was a bit embarrassing but there was a lot of emotion.

“The first thing I thought about was my mum and dad.

“Not so long ago my dad had a heart attack. I was riding at Windsor. My mum called me after I had finished riding that day as she didn’t want the news to affect me.

“Dad was close to retiring then and should have been enjoying himself. Both my parents have worked really hard with mediocre incomes.

“I want to give my family something for the work they have put in. They have worked so hard.”

So what next for Watson?

“I want to be champion jockey and to be riding more Group 1 winners,” he says, no pause for thought.

“I want to be one of the best there is. Nothing has changed that view – not the winner on Saturday.

“I’m only 25. I’ve had the highs and lows. It’s been the best thing that has happened to me. Now I know how to deal with things.”

Jason Watson. Difficult. Talented. Determined.

The world still at his feet…

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