Stories from the Saddle: Harry Coleby
- pporacommittee
- 10 hours ago
- 8 min read
Most aspiring jockeys don’t wait until the age of 34 to have their first ride. Very few will have shed seven stone in six months to do so. Harry Coleby, an equine chiropractor from Tiptree in Essex, achieved that feat on Little Peter – owned and trained by Newmarket-based John Berry, who describes Harry as ‘Too modest to blow his own trumpet, but the best horse “backman” I’ve ever come across’ – at Shelfield Park on Saturday, and topped it off with victory. Harry, who also works for Bradley Gibbs, spoke to Jake Exelby following his win – on his 35th birthday – about his journey to the saddle and the ups and downs of a life spent with horses.
Talk me through your career in racing so far. How did you become interested in the sport?
I started pony club with the Essex Union aged two and, apart from playing a bit of rugby and football, have never known anything outside horses. I did the Mounted Games, some cross-country, and evented. Pony club was an important building block – I wish it was still as strong as when I was growing up.
I show jumped on the Sunshine Tour, going to places like Portugal, and – in 2021 – was third in the National Dressage Championships. So, I can ride in all spheres, including - now - racing!
How did you get into equine physiotherapy as a career?
I wanted to be a farrier but ended up leaving school at 16 and worked as a bricklayer, which I detested, apart from the friends I made. Then a friend from pony club asked me to come and work as a groom, and I ended up working with showjumpers.
I then went to work in a dressage yard, which is a good grounding for training young horses, then ran a livery yard. I’ve always been involved with horses, but it can be tough financially.
That’s how I got into chiropractic work. I went to work for a lady whose horse I fixed, then went to Loughborough University, where I did two degrees – in sports massage and equine chiropractic manipulation – and two certificates, in clinical education and veterinary physio. That enabled me to lecture and teach, so I’m not as stupid as I look! I then set up my own business, Stepflex Ltd.
Who do you work for?
Charlie Appleby was one of my first clients, and I’ve been working for him and Godolphin for ten years – I used to go to Dubai about twice a month during their season before Covid.
I’ve worked for the National Stud a lot and have done the stallions at Shadwell Stud. I want to get into more jumping yards, but you need connections and it takes time. Hopefully winning my first race will help.
How did you become involved in point-to-pointing and how did the association with Bradley Gibbs come about?
I was up in Newmarket and rode out for Nick Wright for a season – I had a pointer with him, but it got injured. Former point-to-point rider Paddy Gerety became a friend, he supplies Red Mills to Brad and introduced me. Funnily enough, I’d messaged Brad once a year for three years, but he never replied, so I phoned him, and he picked up. My persistence had finally paid off.
That was three years ago, and he asked me to come in. At the time, Bradley and one other person were riding 11 lots a day.
What made you decide to want to race-ride and how did the opportunity arise?
It’s always been on the to do list. I’ve show jumped, I’ve done dressage, and I always wanted to ride in a race. I’m great friends with the likes of Adam Kirby and James Doyle – James is a phenomenal person as well as a jockey and lets me use his gym and Equicizer. I’m lucky to have good connections!
Covid had knocked my physiotherapy business, so I retrained as a mortgage broker, but was really unhappy. I’d become a parent and it was a struggle with young children. But Brad’s always been supportive – while he never answers his phone, he’d ring me all the time.
Last September, he called me and said, ‘I don’t care how heavy you are, come in on Monday morning with your stuff… if it still fits!’ I started going to his every day and it went from there. He promised that, if I could make the weight, he’d do his best to get me a ride.
You’ve lost seven stone in order to race-ride since September. How did you manage to do it? Were there times when you thought you wouldn’t make the weight?
I was 18st4lbs when Brad called. But I was riding nine, ten or even 11 lots a day and we work them well. I stopped drinking for most of that period, I was no longer sitting in an office, I started going to the gym again, and I joined the Tiptree Road Runners. It was mad.
I was very strict on food. We didn’t eat out, and I remember my wife, Vicky – who owns a veterinary practice, Clarendon Equine – saying to me at one point, ‘Can we please eat something other than fish and vegetables?!’ But we had two young children – Henry’s about to turn three and Ava’s nearly one – and I knew it would be my last chance to have a go at it. I wasn’t going to give that up.
One of the trainers you work for is John Berry. How did you get the mount on Little Peter?
Brad had bought a horse for me to ride, but it got injured. I’d always start off anything John was planning to run over jumps, and I rode Little Peter back in 2023, after he’d won a bumper at Worcester and before his first run over hurdles. I hadn’t sat on him since then until six weeks ago.
I was at John’s one day and he didn’t know what to do with Little Peter, so I asked, ‘I don’t suppose he could run in a point-to-point?’ John, hands on hips, replied, ‘Yeah, he might like it. Let’s get going, I can’t bear to see you not have a ride.’ He’s such a good person – there’s no other way to describe him.
Little Peter was still running on the flat (he’d only ever raced twice over hurdles, and never over fences) but was having a break. We were planning to go to High Easter, but – the Friday before entries closed – Brad suggested that we go to Shelfield Park, because the 2m4f trip would suit him better.
What were your feelings on Saturday before the race?
Until I went to the start, I couldn’t believe it was happening. Brad was also running Avichi In The Park (who also won on Saturday). I ride him every day – he’s a tricky character – and Brad’s partner Claire had joked, ‘If you win on Little Peter, you can ride Avichi too!’ I was never going to do that, but it gave me an incentive.
I wasn’t sure what I was doing, but Ed Vaughan and Harry O’Dwyer helped. I hadn’t even walked the course – I’d done nothing apart from weigh out, and I was a pound light, so I had to drink some water. Brad asked why I wasn’t more stressed, and I replied, ‘Because all I have to do is canter round and not fall off!’
As we walked to the first fence, I thought, ‘Crikey, we’ve never jumped anything this big at home!’
Talk me through the race itself.
Paddy Gerety, Brad and John had all told me to jump off like I was riding at home, so I didn’t rush him. He jumped lovely, travelled well and it started coming together. I’d done so much schooling at Brad’s that it felt like another day at his.
We weren’t straight all the time, but neither were the others, and I kept him in a comfortable rhythm. When I thought he might be getting tired, I tapped him on the shoulder and he lit up. We passed one, then another and – in third with the other two 15-20 lengths ahead – I thought, ‘I’m happy with this’.
I kept squeezing and nudging him, and he kept picking up and from three out we were rocking and rolling! Coming round the final bend, we joined the leader. I didn’t want to hit the front too soon, but he winged two out and landed in front. We popped the last, quickened away, and I could sit up a stride before the line knowing I was clear.
How did you feel afterwards?
I was knackered! It was amazing – the most incredible feeling. You can’t put a label on it – there’s no way of explaining the elation after the year I’ve had. Brad said, ‘I can’t believe you’ve just won. You’ve been telling me how you’d ride the race for the past eight weeks, you’ve waffled on and you’ve done it as you said. Nobody does that on their first ride.’ I must have told him what I wanted to do at least twice a day. I put it down to good coaching!
I still haven’t got my head round it three days later. I got home late on Saturday, we went straight to Edgcote on Sunday, and I was up early again yesterday and today.
Is that it now – a box ticked? Or are you going to have another go on Little Peter, and potentially on other horses?
No, I’m hassling Brad for more rides this weekend! Seriously, I’d love to keep going. Little Peter will hopefully go to Garthorpe at the end of the month, and it would be nice to think I could ride ten winners, to prove Saturday wasn’t a complete fluke, or maybe even win some sort of novice riders title. I love it, although I think I’ve probably started ten years too late.
Do you think Bradley might let you ride one of his?
I think he would if he could, but most of his are maidens. Maybe Avichi In The Park, but I think he’s got more wins in him, and I don’t want to jock off Ed Vaughan or Brad!
Which horse that you’ve ridden would you most like to ride in a race?
A good mare owned by Beverley Thomas called Highway Jewel. She was such a lunatic that Brad only let me ride her once!
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
I remember Simon Andrews asking Brad at Stratford last season, ‘Who’s that lad who works for you?’ and Brad replied, ‘That’s Fat Harry!’ It’s always been a bit of a joke, but they’re not calling me that this season.
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