Laura King speaks to the leading rider, who has been riding out for UAE champion trainer Bhupat Seemar ahead of her return to race-riding after a career-threatening injury
March 2012: around 100 journalists and photographers are at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, their eyes and lenses trained on the horses on the track.
Then a girl arrives, wearing a bright pink body protector and helmet with a pink bobble. Suddenly, all the focus is on her. She is top jockey Chantal Sutherland (right) and she is all the media want to know about.
A few days after she caused such a stir, Sutherland partnered Game On Dude in the Dubai World Cup, managing only 12th of 13 behind winner Monterosso.
It would be 12 years before she returned to Meydan but she is there again now. Sutherland rides out on that very same track six mornings a week: part of the work-riding team for champion trainer Bhupat Seemar.
For several weeks she was almost completely unnoticed, which suited her as she continued to rebuild from a freak accident which temporarily destroyed her arm, confidence and, almost, her career.
Complicated surgery
All because of some pesky birds in Florida. “I was galloping out in a stakes race [at Gulfstream Park] and I ran into two swans and my horse freaked out, which is normal as they’re flight animals,” she explains.
“It all happened so fast, there was nothing I could do to help myself or the horse. When I fell off I broke my arm off my shoulder – it wasn’t attached at all. It was complicated surgery and I’m lucky that I still have my arm to use and that the nerve damage repaired.”
It's been a long road back; a year and a half of physio and daily gym work, during which the doubts set in. “There was a moment in training that I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to ride again,” says the rider, who also has a licence to teach yoga.
“It’s been such an uphill battle to get back and it was tough seeing some of my horses at the Breeders’ Cup. It’s been rough, but I’m not looking back. I keep that mindset of believing that great things are in my future. I’ve got that fight mode again which was gone for a little bit.”
Back in the late noughties, Sutherland could have laid claim to Frankie Dettori’s title of being the most famous jockey on the planet. G1 successes in the Santa Anita Handicap and Hollywood Gold Cup are just two of 1,200-plus career wins for the Canadian-born rider.
Success on the track was augmented with huge popularity off it. She starred in the reality TV show Jockeys alongside then fiancé Mike Smith and there were also occasional modelling turns, including in Vanity Fair. It sounds fantastic, but there’s often a darker side to fame.
“We had cameras in our life a lot, it was crazy,” she says of Jockeys. “I didn’t realise how many people would get to know you. I remember going to Home Depot to buy a plant and someone saying: ‘Don’t do it, don’t have a baby!’ I’m like ‘what?!’
Good for racing
“I told them [the producers] to do Jockeys. It was at a time when Reality TV was just coming in, it was before The Kardashians. We all did the show and it was great I thought; it was good for racing.”
And the modelling? “I did all that for horse racing, I don’t think I’d have got any of that unless I was in racing.”
For all the wins and the glamour, Sutherland hasn’t had it easy. There have been plenty of tough times along the way, including her parents divorcing when she was 13 and the failure of her own marriage.
“If I had one regret it’s that when I got married [to businessman Dan Kruse in 2012; they divorced in 2017] I shouldn’t have stopped riding,” she says. “I was right at the top and I should have pushed through, but we’re women and we want to try and have kids. It doesn’t always work, but we try.”
Fame is often a sword that comes double-edged. “A part of it was cool but a part of it wasn’t,” she says. “I wasn’t ready for social media and the negativity and the bullying … that made me very introverted for a while. I wasn’t great at reading some of the things people said about me, but now I’m OK.”
It’s one of a few occasions that Sutherland touches on heartbreak, another being when she refers to Hall of Fame rider Smith.
“We were together six years. We got engaged and then … unengaged,” a small sigh. “I would say he was probably the big love of my life. I still chat to him a little bit, but he’s married now so I don’t want to upset anybody. He was my best friend and a very, very nice guy.”
Sutherland’s openness is refreshing. She’s warm, engaging and it would be hard not to like her. She’s throwing at lot at this comeback, which, at the age of 48, she knows will not be easy.
‘I know I can’t ride forever’
“I know I can’t ride forever,” she says. “But I think I’ve got a couple of years left. I’m going to go really hard for the next two years and also enjoy myself.
“I’m happy being here; everyone has been so nice, especially in this barn [Seemar’s Zabeel Stables]. I didn’t think I’d be race-riding this soon but I feel super ready.
“I’m super-competitive and I want to win – I get in a zone,” she says. “I love racing. When I’m in the race it’s kind of like yoga, I’m in a state where I can’t think of anything else, I’m in that present moment, at one with the horse.”
So does Sutherland’s future lie in Dubai, or back in the US? For now, she’s happy where she is and embracing life out of the saddle too.
“I’m super happy here, I love, love Dubai!” she enthuses. “It’s futuristic; I like the architecture and I’m really into interior design – some of the places here are just beautiful. I love that its safe and that people are friendly and discreet, not too gossipy.”
It’s also competitive. Finding rides, let alone winners, will not be easy. But Sutherland has shown her toughness – she’s willing to ride the waves. Racing’s most glamorous star isn’t done yet.
• Visit the Dubai Racing Club website
View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses / jockeys / trainers / sires