Former British champion jockey, in action at Royal Ascot as a TV pundit for Sky Sports Racing, fills in our regular questionnaire
Seb Sanders, 51, is a former British champion Flat jockey turned TV pundit. A plumber’s son from Birmingham, he abandoned ambitions to become a footballer after an introduction to local trainer Bryan McMahon who helped him become champion apprentice in 1995.
Sanders went on to ride over 2,000 winners and enjoyed multiple successes at G1 level, including the Oaks on Look Here in 2008, Prix de Diane (Confidential Lady, 2006) and Irish 2,000 Guineas (Bachelor Duke, 2004).
He rode as stable jockey to Sir Mark Prescott, succeeding George Duffield in 2004, for 15 years, clinching the Flat title in a dead-heat with Jamie Spencer at the end of a race which went down to the final day of the 2007 season.
Sanders quit in 2016 but has since established himself as a forthright TV pundit for Sky Sports Racing. “I speak my mind,” he says. “I was very judgmental of myself, but as a pundit I am not as hard on others as I was on myself.”
Sanders, whose Royal Ascot winners included a 2008 victory on Kingsgate Native in the Golden Jubilee Stakes, will be working at this year’s meeting for Sky Sports Racing.
Which racing figure past or present do you most admire?
To state the blatantly obvious it would be the likes of Lester Piggott but Steve Cauthen would also be right up there. I think he transformed racing when he came over from the US. He put jockeyship on a different level with his American style.
He then developed more of a European style but I thought he upgraded the standard of race-riding in this country. I rode as an apprentice for a couple of years when he was riding and I reckon he did a lot to improve jockeyship.
Which is your favourite venue and race anywhere in the world?
I liked all the quirky tracks and I particularly enjoyed riding round Epsom. Most jockeys don’t, but I was quite successful there. I was always up for the challenge. With the camber, the ups and the downs, it was always a great thrill to ride a winner at Epsom.
The Prix de Diane is my favourite race, which I won on Confidential Lady. A lot of people remember me getting banned – I got eight days for excessive use of the whip – but whenever you are seeking perfection, and I had more than 16,000 rides, that was one of the occasions when I got it spot on.
Who is your favourite racehorse and why?
We had a filly at Sir Mark Prescott’s called Intrigued. Although she never quite did it on the track, she would give me butterflies every time I rode her on the gallops. She won one race at Epsom, but I still think to this day she was the best horse I ever sat on.
A horse that did fulfil his potential for me was Compton Place, who won the July Cup. We had always made the running in order not to dampen his enthusiasm. He wanted quick ground and we knew if we could get him covered up, he was a serious horse. He turned over Royal Applause quite easily. He was a very special sprinter and I never sat on one quite as good as him.
What is your fondest memory in racing?
I really enjoyed winning the Golden Jubilee on Kingsgate Native. That was a ride I only got three or four days before the race. I had bumped into Chris Richardson of Cheveley Park Stud in the car park after the horse had run in the King’s Stand Stakes.
He asked me if I had a ride in the race and that’s how I got on him. It was a great experience to win a Group 1 at Royal Ascot and to meet Her Majesty afterwards.
When I was chasing the championship I remember going to Doncaster thinking I would crumble if I lost. I had worked so hard for it all to come down to one day.
Going there I thought I didn’t have a chance of winning a race. I was one ahead but Jamie’s rides were a good bit better than mine. It was quite exciting with Jamie winning the final race to tie with me. I was happy to have a bit of the cake rather than none at all.
If you could change one thing in racing, what would it be?
I think we should be more open to having claiming races back in this country. There are a bundle of horses that run against each other week in, week out and I think it would be more interesting for punters and jockeys if there were more claimers for them. They have them in the US, and across the world, and I think they make the cards more interesting.
Some of the races we have now have five or six runners. In the 1990s, when we had claiming races, those races would have 16 or 17 runners. You would need to have a fair bit of trackcraft to sort yourself out in a claiming race.
Seb Sanders was speaking to Jon Lees
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