Apprentice jockey Connor Planas repaid Charlie Appleby for giving him the chance to continue his career on Wednesday. Planas, 22, rode his first stakes winner on the unbeaten two-year-old Quest For Stars in the Listed Stonehenge Stakes at Salisbury.
Career saved by Appleby
Planas started out in 2022, riding mostly for Newmarket trainers George Boughey and Tom Clover, and enjoyed his best season in 2023 when he partnered 39 winners. He passed his century of wins this summer but has revealed he might not have achieved that without the intervention of the Godolphin trainer.
Appleby has his own stable jockey in William Buick and when he is not available championship-chasing Billy Loughnane is now his go-to rider. Yet opportunities have come to Planas too, with half his winners in 2026 having come from Appleby, for whom he has a 29 per cent strike rate.
First stakes victory
On Wednesday Appleby gave Planas the chance to register the biggest victory of his career to date on Quest For Stars. He had ridden the colt to both his previous wins in July at Doncaster and Sandown.
Quest For Stars was an easy to back 11-4 second favourite behind the odds-on Scommessa Sicura, whose joint owner is the England and Chelsea footballer Reece James. Quest For Stars gave trouble at the start and reared in the stalls before the race but once away took up the running and rallied when headed by the favourite to score by a neck.
“He tries very hard,” said Planas. “I was pretty keen to go on the front end and make it a stamina test from halfway and he just kept going to the line. I knew he wouldn’t lie down. Both times I’ve ridden him before he kept going to the line and he did the same today. He’s a big horse who’ll stay further. I’m sure Charlie has a nice plan for him.
“It would be nice to ride him next time but William Buick is first jockey so you know your position in the yard and I’m thankful to ride him today.”
How the tie-up came about
Explaining how the tie-up came about, Planas said: “About 12 months ago I was close to hanging my boots up. Things were getting a bit quiet and I was struggling to get rides.
“I bumped into Kieren Fallon Sr who said come and ride out for Charlie. It’s a good wage and you never know he might stick you up. I had my first ride at Kempton on Palladas. He went and won and Charlie kept supporting me from there and I haven’t really looked back since.”
He continued: “I was struggling to get rides and when you get limited rides, it’s hard to get winners. I was at Leicester on Sunday. There were 23 jockeys there and 18 with one ride. It’s very hard. Without Charlie I wouldn’t be here.”
