Ascot now the main target as Eaves aims high

Like Hanagan who hailed from Warrington before moving to Yorkshire, Eaves was born in Wigan – another rugby league town not famed for its association with horse racing. Yet, while the champion jockey’s father rode with moderate success, it was a chance pony ride that changed Eaves’s life.

And just as Hanagan, who is on course to retain his hard-won title and also the Cock o’ the North accolade that goes to the region’s most prolific winner on the flat, 30-year-old Eaves has made Yorkshire his home.

After honing his skills over obstacles with former trainer Mary Reveley at Saltburn, before moving on to Brian Ellison’s yard at Malton, Eaves has become a highly-effective stable jockey at Bryan Smart’s quietly successful yard at Sutton Bank, North Yorkshire.

This was illustrated by his eyecatching ride on Royal Ascot-bound Tangerine Trees at last Saturday’s 2000 Guineas meeting – one of the three consecutive races that Eaves won at Newmarket and then Doncaster in the evening.

Inspired by how the brilliant Frankel burst out of the stalls to make all in the Guineas, Tangerine Trees and Eaves did likewise in the next race, though horse and rider were clinging on in the final furlong while there was never any realistic prospect of the Henry Cecil supercolt being caught.

Now the Temple Stakes at Haydock later this month, and then the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, are targets for the six-year-old who was recording his first success amid Group company and beat, amongst others, Sole Power – the shock 100-1 winner of York’s Nunthorpe Stakes.

“I won the Newmarket race three years ago with Captain Gerrard, and it was great to do it on a day that will be remembered forever because of Frankel,” says Eaves who currently finds himself ahead of the likes of Frankie Dettori and Wiliam Buick in the jockeys’ standings.

“He’s got a lot of speed and is very game. He’s very straightforward but it is amazing how much he has improved from last season. I’m looking forward to Royal Ascot – I won the Wokingham a few years back on Big Timer for Linda Perrett.

“That was amazing, but it would be fantastic to go and have a winner there for Mr Smart who has been very good to me over the last four years or so and has a really nice string.

“It’s certainly very different to when I started out with Mrs Reveley – her grandson James was just a small lad. The experience from those five years was something special.

“I was surrounded by some pretty good lads – Graham Lee, Anthony Ross and Alan Dempsey – and expected my weight to go up. It didn’t so I’ve been on the Flat ever since.”

Based in Malton, Eaves admits he – and his fellow jockeys – are in awe of Hanagan who has already ridden more winners this season compared to the corresponding week last year when he went on to become only the third Northern rider to become champion jockey in 105 years.

And, while the 81 winners that Eaves rode last year would have been good enough in the past to win Cock o’ the North, a contest being backed this year by the Yorkshire Post and Racing For Change, he’s happy to “keep kicking” rather than set specific targets.

“Paul has been fantastic for racing in Yorkshire and has given us all a lift,” he added.

“He has shown us that anything is possible.”

The “keep kicking” mantra has served Hanagan well and Eaves is happy to follow suit as he combines his racing with representing the interests of his peers on the board of the Professional Jockeys Association.

As such, Eaves is well-placed to comment on the two burning issues within racing – the use of the whip and prize money.

“The whip is definitely an essential piece of equipment,” he said. “The sticks, however, are very soft but you do need them for steering purposes so you keep on a true line.Ask any jockey and the welfare of the horse comes first at all times. That’s why we are so careful. We want horses to race the next day. That’s why we look after them, but you’re not doing that if they’re veering off the course.

“The other big change is prize money. It needs to be addressed. Unless it is, we just won’t get new owners into the sport.”

n Ryan Moore says Treasure Beach will have to improve to be a Derby contender after landing the MBNA Chester Vase – a key Epsom trial.

The victory confirmed the class of Guineas hero Frankel – Treasure Beach was last seen finishing 11 lengths behind the Henry Cecil-trained star at Ascot last year.

“When he got half a gap he quickened up very well. He’ll have to improve to be a Derby horse,” said Moore.