Willie Carson has seen horse racing evolve enormously in over 60 years of competing at the pinnacle of Flat racing.
A Legendary Career
Carson, 83, was British champion jockey five times between 1972 and 1983, rivalling the likes of the great Lester Piggott and Pat Eddery during their heyday. The Stirling-born rider rode three winners in the Ascot Gold Cup - Little Wolf (1983), Longboat (1986), Sadeem (1989) - included in 56 winners at the festival.
The Scot will be back at Ascot again this year in a capacity he has enjoyed since hanging up his saddle. Carson has continued his success in the sport as a breeder and will be casting a keen, expert eye over the current crop.
Changes in Jockey Profession
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star Sport, on behalf of Horse.Bet, Carson gave his thoughts on how the job and responsibilities of jockeys have changed since his day.
He said: “Well, I think they're more professional, fitter, and more sleek, but not as worldly in race riding, because in sort of my day and go when I was a youth, race riding was more important than what you looked like.”
“Everybody kept close to the rail, we kept tight, you would always see horses that never got a run, jockeys coming past the winning post hard on the bridle, never got out. That doesn't happen nowadays.”
“Jockeys seem to give everybody a free run, you know, you can never see a horse going past the winning post nowadays on the bridle.”
“It must be good for the punter because you can't sort of start shouting at the television or whatever, saying, ‘well, look at my horse, look at that stupid jockey, well, what the hell do you think he was doing?’”
“That happened every day, going back in time, but it doesn't happen so much now. It looks a lot fairer than it did in my day.”
Confidence in Modern Success
Carson was confident that he would be able to achieve the same level of success as he did during his glory years today.
He added: “When you get to the top of any sport, any of the top jockeys in my era, they were adapted to this era, and the same you could say about the top jockeys now were adapted to the way we rode way back.”
“It's the same thing. Talent always rises to the top, that cream, if you leave it, it'll rise to the top.”
