Hi! I’m Flo Guy, a 21-year-old amateur jockey from Herefordshire. I’ve grown up around horses and have always had a thirst for speed, so I thought why not put the two together and join the racing scene! As soon as I left school, I decided university wasn’t for me, so I took up a part time job at Venetia Williams’ as a work rider. As well as this I was competing up to BE novice and hunting my own horse. I’m currently a full-time work rider for Venetia, riding numerous lots a day and getting ready for the busy national hunt season ahead.
I’m relatively new to point-to-pointing, with my first ride on the 11th of April 2021. Last season I was lucky enough to get the ride on an ex-chaser belonging to Venetia called Nesterenko. He gave me three perfect spins, coming 2nd my first time out in the Novice Riders race at Shelfield point-to-point. He couldn’t have given me a better first ride; an absolute gentleman, telling me exactly how a race was meant to be run as he was a veteran of the sport! He set me up perfectly for my next few rides, and only increased my love for racing.
I couldn’t have had a better start to the season this year as I have been lucky enough to get the ride on Venetia Williams’ 13-year-old Tango De Juilley (known as Tango at home). This weekend at Ffos Las can only be described as the perfect start to our partnership, as we scored victory in our first point-to-point together, winning the INEOS Grenadier Mixed Open by over 15 lengths! This was my first point-to-point winner, in none other than a mixed open! I ride Tango every day at Venetia’s, and he can only be described as a tank that does exactly as he pleases with me on board, pretending to have some control.
I started the race a little nervously knowing that Tango can be keen and that I was against some stiff competition so I wanted to give myself as much space as possible, taking him straight to the front and settling him into a rhythm. It wasn’t until I looked behind me that I realised nobody was with me and I was a fence clear!
I’m very excited for the season ahead with Tango and Venetia, hoping to run him in more point-to-points and possibly taking him under rules in some hunter chases. I hope to continue to end up in as many winners’ enclosures as we can along the way! I aim to also pick up some outside rides this season to build up my race experience. I’ll be sharing as much of my season as I can along the way, thank you for reading!
Images kindly provided by Flo’s sponsor, Hattie Austin Photography