Nicola Currie reduced her encouraging form to a three-month winter sabbatical, but it was to be almost mentioned for almost a day after managing six winners of 126 trips last year.
Since his return to the saddle in February, Currie has put together five winners of 26 trips and has worked with an impressive hit rate of 19 percent. It is a long way from the massive 81 winners that the driver born in Scottish achieved in 2018, but the 31-year-old explained how the combination of sport that she loves for three months in winter and gave the support of a sports psychologist who provided her a modern life contract.
Currie spoke about how they went from 81 winners to just six six seasons: “I quickly declared my claim and everything went very well for me, but then I got Jamie Osborne's job, which was brilliant at that time, but obviously Saffie Brillant [Osborne] started to start and the job was no longer there for me because blood is thicker than water.
“So I was freelance again and just couldn't get the ball rolling. I really got furious, did not ride as much as I should have been, it would be quite hard and I just had to change something. This is not the type of job where you come into the car to drive three hours for a trip if your heart is not in it. Because even before you even left, you don't want to go, and that's not a mind. Every week I was hoped for a winner who could get me going, but it just didn't happen. The reality was that I just didn't get the work and not in the right attitude. I had to step back from everything I did. “
Sometimes it can be hard to see the wood from the trees from the trees. Passing the hamster wheel and seeing things for what they are requires strength. For Currie, she was ready to give up which miniature contacts she had left to objectively enter things.
Her own family pleaded her to name it for a day. For a long time it seemed to be the most likely option, but on the advice of Jockey Colm O'Donoghue in retirement, she spent some time going to Donnacha O'Brien in Ireland, where she had lit her spark to continue.
“I had to do something,” she recalls. “The best thing was the best I could have done, and actually I should have done it a year earlier. I had to ask myself, “I really wanted to do that?” I thought I didn't do it and in the first month I drove home back to the Isle of Arran and didn't even see a race. I watched the race every day within two months. I got the mistake back when I ran to Donnaca O'Brien for a month. It was good to have a change of landscape and I had a lot of fun while increasing my fitness levels. I came back to England in February and have lowered my head since then. “
Followers of the all -weather have noticed that Currie will also pursue her trade in the past few weeks, if not better than ever. She drove the winners for her vintage boss Osborne as well as Ollie Sangster and Andrew Balding, for whom she is regularly aligned. Combining some of the larger yards is the opposite approach for what Currie took last year. And that, the jockey believes, was one of the rocks on which she died.
“It's amusing, I spoke to my agent in detail last year and we both decided that the best thing for me was to drive as many smaller coaches as possible. But that didn't work. I just couldn't get any swing because I hadn't supported anyone. I clutched on straws every day every day. “
She added: “To be candid, [a tally of six winners in the season] It was really discouraging. You cannot make a living if you do not get at least 10 trips a week and run winners. My family actually urged me to call it a day and to be candid, that actually made me continue to say: “No, no, I will get this ball rolling again.”
“But I won't lie, I called it for almost a day. Ollie Sangster was very good for me last year, so I do with him for a few days now and also go to Andrew Balding. I absolutely love this job. It is the best in the world when you are busy and I have the feeling that I have been in a completely different place since I came back. “
This way of thinking was tested last Wednesday when the debutant John T (GB) (Mastercraftsman {ire}), the only horse that Currie had declared for the journey in Kemton refused to enter the stands. Such a wasted effort would have been much more hard a year ago. But Currys says she finds it a whole stack that has been easier to take with the smoothly with the smoothly with the mucus since she returned.
“If you have a few winners, drive with confidence and your ride will be so much better. What happened recently in Kempton was a pretty delicate weight for me, and if he didn't go into the stands, it was a crap. If that had been last year, it would have fried me for a few days. They take care of the bad days like this, which are much better when they drive winners and in a good atmosphere. “
She added: “It is one thing that I was very aware of, and I received some advice last year. There are more advice from PJA. There are more bad days than good days in the race, we all know that, but I take it, I had the feeling that I only had bad days and I didn't do well enough with you. When I talked to someone, I have taught myself how critical it is to keep the right mentality as a sport. helped.
“Not many people want to admit that they see a sports psychologist. Maybe you have the feeling that you are only mentally tough enough and that's it. But the reality is that not everyone is and if it helps me to deal with the bad days and promote my career, I am glad to operate it, and I would encourage everyone else to do the same. “
