The continued absence of Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby’s sidelined stable jockey, William Buick, is providing precious opportunities for the yard’s other main rider as the height of the European flat season approaches, as was very much in evidence last week – and this is clearly continuing into Royal Ascot this week.
TRC JOCKEY OF THE WEEK
JAMESDOYLE (+4pts, #18 from #21) was excellent at Chantilly last Sunday on Appleby’s 15th and 16th winners of 2019, Vintager in the G3 Bertrand du Breuil and Al Hilalee in the G2 Prix Hocquart – both sponsored by Longines.
As a result, Doyle climbs into the world’s top 15 riders by aggregate Group wins for 2019, shown underneath.
Doyle, 31, was world #5 for two weeks in 2015. He has rated in the top ten for a total of 65 weeks, most recently in the rankings of March 20, 2016. He started this year #18 with a Performance Index of 1009pts and this week returns to the same slot with 1010pts.
It was in September, 2016, that Doyle formally lost his position as first jockey to Godolphin’s other trainer with a big stable in Britain, Saeed bin Suroor. That year proved costly in ranking terms for Doyle, as this table of aggregate wins (underneath) shows; Doyle slumped from #5 to #16 over the next two years.
Though he has lost traction somewhat with the Godolphin operation, he is very much a top-class rider and, especially in Buick’s absence, a key cog in their wheel heading into Royal Ascot, as his superb ride to win the G1 King’s Stand Stakes on the Charlie Appleby-trained Blue Point on Tuesday illustrated. (That result will be included in the TRC Global Rankings update next week.)
Buick, who has been out of action for more than five weeks with ‘post-head injury syndrome’, is expected to return next month.
Click here for a list of all last week’s biggest TRC Global Rankings points gainers
Click here for a list of all the week’s Group and Graded winners