Jockey Costello keen to build on his Ascot glory

Just 24 hours later, the North Yorkshire rider was admonishing himself for not riding a winner at Redcar or Haydock. “I’m probably my own worst critic, as most jockeys are,” admitted Costello.

Yet, seven days after this fabulous filly provided Costello and Leyburn trainer Karl Burke with a career-defining victory that prompted an outpouring of genuine goodwill from the whole of racing, both men are already looking to the future with Newmarket’s prestigious Darley July Cup being the intended target for Quiet Reflection, who has now won six of her seven starts.

“I was disappointed on the Saturday, and my wife (Aimee) had to point out that I had won a very big race the previous day,” Costello told The Yorkshire Post.

“My mantra is that you are only as good as your last ride, but I did go out with friends, family and some of the owners in my local pub, the Cross and Cushion, in Welburn.

“I felt fine after the race, and then you come back and see Jordan (Vaughan) who looks after the horse, and then all the emotions hit you like a volcano.

“You think about all the time you spent with horses as a young lad, knowing the hard work that goes in looking after them and getting ready for a big race, and it gets you.

“I’ve been over here 15 years now but I’ve probably only been home to Ireland six times.

“Along the way, I’ve missed funerals, my best friend Paddy Aspell’s wedding and other events. You make a lot of sacrifices. There were nights when I was in when my friends were out.”

One was Costello’s decision to turn his back on National Hunt racing – the jockey won the 2012 JCB Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival on John Quinn’s Countrywide Flame – in the hope of getting more rides and opportunities.

The decision paid off when he teamed up with the aforementioned Burke who was 
recording his first domestic Group One winner when Quiet Reflection flashed past the post after pulling clear of her rivals in the closing stages of her six-furlong sprint.

Having not had a break last winter, the trainer and his wife Elaine escaped to Portugal to recuperate before returning to Yorkshire to supervise their horses and Quiet Reflection’s first piece of work since the champion’s Ascot heroics.

“I’ve seen Quiet Reflection this morning, she looks great and I was very happy with what I saw,” said Burke.

“She’s just going out for a canter. If she’s okay, and the ground is suitable, the July Cup is on the agenda.

“If you’re going to win a Group One, there is no better stage in racing than Royal Ascot. The Group Ones abroad are very important, but they are all superseded by what happened the other day.”

However, there is also a possibility that Quiet Reflection is open to further improvement – Costello maintains that the winning margin would have been even more emphatic if the ground at Royal Ascot had been less tacky.

He is also the first to acknowledge the whole team at Burke’s Spigot Lodge stable and, in particular, the aforementioned Vaughan, a promising apprentice jockey, who rides Quiet Reflection.

Yet there is a friendly word of warning for his young protégé. “He thinks he’s going to jock me off – he’s not,” says Costello who was still plying his trade over obstacles during last year’s Royal Ascot before making the full-time switch to the Flat, and against the advice of those who erroneously under-estimated his confidence and belief.

He still maintains, after this win, that he can become 
champion jockey on the Flat following so many years of self-sacrifice.

After all, he is the embodiment of those jockeys who believe that they are only as good as their next ride.