Stories from the Saddle: James Innes
- pporacommittee
- 3 days ago
- 8 min read
Last week, we spoke to Patrick Smith, who took a 12-year break from the saddle and waited nearly 13 years between winners. But James Innes, who plies his trade on the Northern circuit, can trump that! James was absent from race-riding between the 2007/2008 and 2021/2022 seasons, rode his fourth winner in March 2007, but his fifth not until April 2024, over 17 years later. Jake Exelby talked to him after he rode at Friars Haugh at the weekend about his life in and out of the saddle.
How old are you, where are you from and where are you based now?
I’m 43 and grew up in the Scottish Borders, where I live now – about 20 minutes from Kelso. I work for (insurance company) Brown & Brown, who used to be Weatherbys Hamilton.
I’m married to Bess and have two children. Freddie is six and Isobel four.
Talk me through your career in racing so far and how you got into point-to-pointing in the first place?
I did pony club camps when I was younger, and quite a lot of hunting. Mum was MFH of the Buccleuch and Dad was a steward under rules. I was basically a spoilt little brat! I hunted, but didn’t have to look after the horses, which kept me interested.
I was away at school in London and spent a week with Barry Hills aged 15 – I learnt a lot that wasn’t on the school syllabus, and it was much more fun than pony club!
While I was at Oxford Brookes University, I spent most of my time riding out at Henrietta Knight’s – Mum’s from Oxfordshire and Hen had taught her to ride. That was the time of Best Mate and Edredon Bleu, and she was one of the first people to do groundwork with racehorses.
I also spent time with Jonathan Sheppard in Pennsylvania on my gap year, which was again a lot of fun and an eye-opening experience.
When I was still at school, I had my first ride pointing, on Warner’s Sports at Dalston in 2000. I lost one stirrup at the first, then both next time round! At the time, my ambition was just to finish a race. It was very different then – slabs of Tennents and packets of fags in the changing room and very daunting for a teenager. Nowadays, I’m friendly to young jockeys as I remember what it was like.
You had your first wins on The Next Waltz in 2002. Tell me about him.
Mum got him from Len Lungo (for whom he’d been a prolific winner). He was thin as a rake, no matter how much you fed him, and used to plant himself, but was an adorable horse – a decent schoolmaster, who jumped like a stag. I’d have won more on him if I’d known what I was doing.
Your last win before your career break came on Majed (who had been a classy youngster for Martin Pipe). Tell me about him.
He came to us from Lucy Normile and was even more of a pet than The Next Waltz. He just got bored of racing – next time out after he won, we had to drag him out of the box. He was thinking, ‘Why do I have to do this again?’ I was lucky to ride him – my job was not to fall off!
Why did you stop in 2008, having ridden four winners in what seemed a promising start to your career?
It wasn’t a conscious decision, but I was based in London and had other things going on and then moved to Chile for a year to work in a vineyard – I think I’m the only person to have won a point-to-point and an endurance race in Chile, both sponsored by Land Rover! When I came home, I went to work in Gloucestershire for wine merchants Haynes, Hanson & Clark, and – while I did a bit of hunting – I didn’t have horses of my own at first.
And why did you decide to come back in 2021 – a 13-year gap is a long time?
I met Bess while I was in Gloucestershire and started spending more time with horses. I then got Special Agent (whose dam was second in the Oaks) to hunt with the Beaufort, who’d been owned by the Queen and trained by Nicky Henderson – an extraordinary pet! When I started working for (insurance broker) Lycetts, I moved back to Scotland and started hunting with the Buccleuch again – with Mum so involved, I didn’t have much choice!
I took Special Agent schooling at Nick Orpwood and thought, ‘This is more fun than hunting’. To me, jumping a steeplechase fence is the best feeling in the world. In my 30s, I’d run across various deserts – and the Arctic – but nothing’s more fun than pointing.
Talk me through your comeback.
My first ride back was on Drumlee Sunset, another old schoolmaster, who I’d bought from Tom George for £2,000 at Goffs. As we jumped the first fence, Gina Andrews was next to me – I had no idea who she was!
Then came Manetti – a complete thug – from Nick Alexander, and after that I went to Goffs again and bought two five-year-olds, Hendrick’s Girl and Theoldbogroad.
Tell me about your emotions when you won on First One D’Ana at Overton. It was a dead-heat. Did you think you had won immediately after the race?
First One D’Ana was owned and trained by Nick Orpwood. I’d ridden him at Corbridge but didn’t think we had a chance at Overton. I genuinely couldn’t give a monkeys whether I’d won – it was just brilliant flying at speed over the fences – so I was pleased with the dead-heat and relieved that I could prove to Bess that I could still do it.
I’d promised Freddie a toy tractor if I won, so he followed me into the weighing room, and I went into the farm shop in my silks to buy it!
And do you realise that – in your first ever win – you’d beaten James Cookson, whose daughter Tash dead-heated with you that day?
I didn’t have a clue until you told me. I didn’t know Tash at the time, though I’ve got to know her since. I’ve also ridden against Sam Herdman as well as his mum Morag (nee Neill). It’s weird when I’m riding against people who are closer in age to my children than me.
Tell me about Theoldbogroad, your most recent winner.
He’s an absolute saint who jumps like a stag. Tim Kent from Goffs put me in touch with Jerry McGrath, who sent me a list of horses for my budget and convinced me that ‘Bog’ was the one.
Do you have any other horses to ride this season?
We’ve just bought Strackan from the Goffs online sale. He was trained by Henry Daly, is only seven, rated 123 and won at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day 2025. Hopefully the slower pace of pointing and the Northern wind will suit him. I rode him in the snow earlier this week. Welcome to Scotland!
Where do you like to get your horses from?
Goffs, who are based in Hawick. I know most of the team there from hunting.
Since your return, your horses have been trained by Nick Orpwood. What made you decide on him as your trainer?
I’ve known Nick for a long time – he trained the likes of Eco Warrior for Mum. He’s just down the road and has a great team, including his wife Emily, and is very knowledgeable – a wonderful horseman and the senior jockey in the Northern Area. He does a lot of pre-training for professional yards, too.
Which current pointer (not one of your own mounts) would you most like to ride?
I’m quite fickle, so whichever horse has just beaten me in a race… as long as it’s not a chestnut!
Which other jockeys do you admire – both those you rode against when you started and now?
When I was younger, there were greats like Clive Storey – he was the number one – Jimmy Walton, Andrew Richardson and Pauline Robson. They would help us true amateurs as long as we didn’t get in their way!
Now, Nick of course, plus John Dawson, Jack Teal, Joe Wright and Paddy Barlow – his GB Pointers social media account is brilliant. I admire any jockey who gets on a 4yo or 5yo and have a lot of respect for the trainers trying to sell young horses based on the ‘Irish model’.
Who else do you admire and respect in pointing?
Wassels Young, who does a great job at Overton, and Louisa Cheape for her dedication to the new course at Pusk – anyone who builds their own course. On that subject, people like Will Easterby and Jack Teal do a lot of hard graft in Yorkshire, which is great, as they benefit as jockeys.
Then there’s Will Ramsay, whose Jockey Start is a great initiative. He’s so enthusiastic – you can’t say no to him – and he gets professional trainers involved. He could get the likes of Nick Orpwood or John Dawson to ride his horses, but he’s gone down the opposite route.
What's your favourite course?
Friars Haugh. It’s just 20 minutes down the road, so it keeps Bess and the children happy. Did you know there used to be a fence at the top of that hill? You don’t realise how steep it is until you’re giving a child a piggyback up it!
What are your ambitions in pointing and racing?
I’d love to win the Buccleuch Cup Hunter Chase at Kelso, which is sponsored by the company I work for – I was third last year on ‘Bog’. But really, just to keep enjoying it and not make a fool of myself.
Your mother, Snippet, is also involved with pointing. What does she do for the sport?
She’s a pocket rocket to whom you can’t say no. As Will Ramsay said, I was ‘voluntold’ to be Chair of our local point-to-point! As well as being MFH, she stewards and has horses in training with Nick Alexander.
Trail hunting is no longer legal in Scotland. How has this affected pointing and what do you think will happen to pointing if it is banned in England and Wales?
I’m probably the wrong person to ask, but hunting struggles and pointing relies heavily on hunt volunteers. A lot of young riders haven’t been hunting which is a worry – it’s a good breeding ground for jockeys and helps keep people interested in pointing.
What would you do if you were in charge of the sport?
On the above point, it would be good if jockeys had to go out hunting, and volunteering at their local meeting, before getting a licence.
I’d also like to see professional trainers being allowed to run horses in certain types of races – not Maidens. We’re struggling for jockeys, so it would be invaluable to give rides to young people who work in a yard.
There are a lot of good things happening, like changes to race conditions. The sport’s not stuck in the past.
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