Interview with 22-year-old rider who thrived during ten-month spell in Kentucky before going back home to rebuild his career in the UK
GB: Not for nothing is America known as the land of opportunity and it is fair to say jockey Tyler Heard made the most of his trip there last year.
While it would probably not be entirely true to describe Heard as a ‘struggling apprentice’ when he departed Britain for Kentucky, in his words, things “weren’t going brilliantly”.
So, with girlfriend and fellow rider Grace McEntee, Heard jetted out on January 1 last year for a ten-month Stateside sojourn that yielded 22 winners (plus 21 seconds and 19 thirds) from 175 rides, while the $768,908 he pocketed in prize-money dwarfed his previous annual earnings in Britain.
Based “five minutes” from Keeneland in Lexington, Heard was on the mark at his local track and also struck at Horseshoe Indianapolis, Belterra Park in Cincinnati, northern Kentucky’s Turfway Park and Charles Town, not far from Washington DC.
There was also a victory at Churchill Downs, but Heard’s biggest US win came when Baytown Chatterbox, trained by McEntee’s uncle Paul, pulled a 60-1 upset in a $150,000 juvenile race at Ellis Park in August.
Indeed, comparisons could perhaps have been made with Adam Beschizza, a talented member of Britain’s weighing whose career has soared across the pond.
However, while Beschizza stayed, Heard came home and is now in the process of rebuilding his profile in Britain as part of the John & Thady Gosden team.
Things might have been different had he been a few pounds heavier, though.
‘I wanted to be a jump jockey’
“I probably wanted to be a jump jockey,” says the 22-year-old, whose father Colin participated in point-to-points before training in that sphere. Older brother Liam was once part of Paul Nicholls’s all-conquering National Hunt operation.
Heard explains: “I was going to ride in point-to-points when I was 16, but Dad didn’t think it was a good idea and didn’t want me to get hurt, especially as I was light enough to ride on the Flat.”
From Cornwall, Heard worked as a 16-year-old in Lambourn for trainer Richard Hughes, a three-time champion jockey who has few peers when it comes to skills in the saddle.
“‘Hughesie’ was great to learn from and ride out with, fantastic to watch” he adds. “He was brilliant to talk to after races and I probably learned 90 per cent of what I know from him. I wouldn’t have wanted to start anywhere else.”
The laid-back Heard made a bright beginning to life as an apprentice jockey with 17 winners during the pandemic-hit year of 2020 and followed up with a healthy 27 the season after, but he would not be the first of his profession to stall after a promising start.
Just 12 winners came in 2022, by which time Heard was casting admiring glances towards the opposite side of the Atlantic.
“It was always going to be America as Grace has three uncles out there, including one, Paul, who trains in Kentucky, while her brother was there at the time too,” he says. “It meant we had help to get started and it would be easier to settle.”
January 1, 2023, is a date Heard remembers well and that is not because he was nursing a hangover from hell. “We flew out that day and going to America was something I wanted to do when I was young and didn’t have commitments back home,” he recalls.
‘Things weren’t going horrendously’
“It’s not like I was forced into going and things weren’t going horrendously in Britain, but they weren’t going brilliantly either.”
Although Heard had never been to the US, it was not exactly in for a culture shock in terms of lifestyle or profession.
“I loved it,” he says. “You’d heard how they’d do it in the mornings, so you expected to be busy and you’d maybe ride 14 horses, whereas I might ride three or four a morning over here.
“You’d be on a different horse every 15 minutes having breezed them and you can get a lot more done. You get to know the horses better and you didn’t miss any of them because you might be galloping the same horse twice a week, which I enjoyed.”
Elaborating on the memories of his morning routine, he recalls: “The way they train is different. You’d breeze over half a mile and every bit of work was a good bit of work; you really got to know what the horses could do, whereas here you can ride one at home who then surprises you on the track.
‘They know exactly what they’ve got’
“In America, they tend to know exactly what they’ve got before they’ve ever run,” he goes on. “The work is faster and sometimes you’d take them off the bridle, which isn’t something you’d do often in Britain. There, they stretched.”
The no-nonsense approach to galloping on the track in his temporary home was welcomed too. “You wouldn’t get many hard-luck stories because races tend to be truly run,” explains Heard, keen to thank trainers John Ennis and Anna Meah (and her husband David) for their hospitality.
“You’re going a good gallop, there is usually space and rarely you’d be unlucky; the best horse tends to win. I had a great time.”
While a spell in California helped shape Gosden senior’s career, Heard is unsure if his own US experience helped secure the gig with the powerhouse operation when he slipped back into Britain at the end of last year.
“Nothing’s been mentioned,” he says, before laying bare the key takeouts from his stint.
“Pace and speed were big things and I learned a lot about them, and being able to keep horses running and getting them to switch leads, while it tidied me up in terms of riding a finish.
“There are a lot of different styles in Britain – some better than others – whereas over there it’s more balanced and neater. I think that’s helped me coming back; I look a lot tighter.
“That was just from watching other riders and trying to copy them, but it took a lot of adjusting. We were there for ten months and I probably only got looking more American towards the end. I’ve had people say I look better, neater and tidier for going over. So, along with tactics and speed, it definitely improved me.”
‘You can make a lot of money’
Without going into the exact amount of dollars and cents, it also improved Heard’s bank balance. “You can make a lot of money,” he continues.
“If I was to go again, I’d do it differently. We were trying to ride in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, but next time, I’d probably try to base myself at one track, hopefully get more rides and keep the costs down because we were doing a lot of travelling, trying to ride everywhere.
“The prize-money is brilliant, even at the lower tracks, where you’d have minor races for $20,000. There is money to be made if you do it right and I came out better than I went in, put it that way.”
Routes into the sport for trainers and jockeys in the States also impressed Heard – “it’s far easier and more accessible” – and he is predictably positive about the trip, so much so that coming back to Britain was something he chewed over.
“It was worth going,” he reflects. “We went there with an open mind and didn’t know how long we’d stay for. There were no expectations, but it was a successful trip.
“It’s done me the world of good and, if anyone over here asks me about going, I tell them to do it.
“I came back to give myself a second chance in this country and see how it went. The option to go back is there and it took a bit of thinking to come back, it wasn’t an easy decision.
“I could have quite happily stayed because I enjoyed it so much and did well, but I came back and ended up with the Gosdens and they’ve been very good.”
Riding the handful of winners required to lose his claim is the immediate objective for Heard, who might leave the passport in his top drawer – for now at least.
“I’m in a better position now than when I went to America,” he says. “Nothing is going to happen overnight, but I feel I’m getting better-quality rides than I got two years ago. Whether that’s because of the Gosden link, or people can see an improvement in my riding, I don’t know, but I am in a better place.
“I suspect I’ll be in the UK next year because of how it’s gone with the Gosdens, who have given me a few chances and I want to see how that goes.”
Asked where he sees himself in five years, Heard replies: “Oh, I don’t know, no idea. I could be here or there, we’ll see, but going to America was the best thing I’ve done in my career.”
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