Stories from the Saddle: Molly Armytage

Molly Armytage, who turned 20 earlier this month, rode her first winner last weekend when steering Illico De Cotte to victory at Badbury Rings – and promptly followed up on her first mount under rules, taking a Hunter Chase at Leicester on 50/1 shot Enqarde. It’s no surprise that Molly is a talented rider – her father is Grand National-winner (and fellow racing journalist) Marcus, while her aunt and uncle are pioneering female jockey Gee Armytage and Mark Bradburne, another leading jockey with over 350 wins to his name. Jake Exelby spoke to Molly after her momentous double and discovered her steady build-up to success in the saddle and her level-headed approach to what she hopes to achieve in her career.

Molly and Illico De Cotte on their way to victory (Tim Holt)

What do you do when you’re not riding?

I study at OMBS – Oxford Media & Business School. It’s like a university, and I do digital marketing, business studies, IT and event management. I share a student house in Oxford during the week and go home – near Lambourn – at the weekends.

The course lasts a year, and I don’t know what I want to do afterwards. I’m taking the riding as it comes. This week’s been good – but you have bad weeks too. I’d love it to go in the right direction, but it might not.

The next step is a Category B licence (to ride against professionals), and I may go and work in a yard, but I wouldn’t be averse to doing a job alongside racing. OMBS are great at finding jobs for their students and they’ve also been understanding about letting me go off and ride.

With your family background – your grandfather Roddy was also a leading trainer - was it always inevitable that you’d start riding yourself?

I obviously grew up riding, doing lots of pony club and hunting with the Old Berkshire. I went to school with Olive Nicholls – she was doing Shetland pony racing, which I thought was cool, so I did it too. It was great fun, but I hardly ever finished!

A younger Molly in shetland pony action - in the colours in which her Dad won the Grand National

Gee felt sorry for me, so got me a racing pony – Merryment Top Cat, who used to be Tristan Durrell’s. Then Dad got me The Bisky Bat, who was quite a character. We bought him out of a field for £200 and he was ten but hadn’t been in training since he was two! But Claire Bonner did a great job on him and he’s now at the British Racing School at Newmarket.

Molly after winning at Cocklebarrow on The Bisky Bat

Covid came along, so the pony racing fizzled out, but it was great fun while it lasted.

Tell me about your first point-to-point season, riding Monbeg Legend. How did the connection with Katie Croft come about?

Dad was riding out at Nicky Henderson’s when Katie and her partner David Fehily were there and told them that I’d help them with Monbeg Legend, so I started riding him out. I didn’t know anything about pointing at the time and just thought I’d become an amateur under rules.

He was so safe – a baby could have got round on him.

Why did you only have one ride in your second season?

There were a number of reasons. Firstly, my Mum, Amber, was ill – she sadly passed away this time last year.

I was doing my A-levels, which were the priority, and knew I had a gap year coming up, so was relaxed about it. Then we were waiting for good ground, which never came. It was a wet year.

After that, I spent a few weeks in France, working for Louisa Carberry. She let me school and was so helpful to me – her and husband Philip taught me so much.

Your career really progressed last year, with four seconds on Baunmore Jet and Enqarde. How frustrating was it not to ride your first winner?

I wasn’t frustrated really – I was just happy to be riding at all. But I did think I’d need to win a few this season!

Tell me about Baunmore Jet. You sound very fond of him. I understand there are some well-known names among his owners.

When we got ‘Brian’, I knew I had to get a syndicate together. A lot of the people involved are Dad’s friends and fellow racing people – it was so kind of them to join in. I won’t mention any names as there are 40 in total, so it would be a long list!

Molly in the paddock at Larkhill on Baunmore Jet

Brian’s been so good at giving me experience. He stays sound, does the job and has been a great stepping stone.

How did you come by the ride on Enqarde? Talk me through your win on Tuesday.

Celia (trainer Celia Plunkett) is a family friend and Dad and Gee both rode for her. I think she had horses with my grandad too. While she had a jockey for him at the start of last year, I said I’d love to ride him, so she let me whenever I was available.

Molly riding Enqarde at Brocklesby Park

He ran best last season when he was relaxed going to the start, which he was at Leicester – that was a good sign. I’d had good instructions from Celia and Alice (her daughter, TV presenter Alice Fox-Pitt) – they told me to stay with the pack and make sure I had fun!

He jumped well, and we didn’t get into a battle to make the running. He was in a good rhythm, and we were making up lengths at the fences. I kept thinking he’d drop out, but he stayed on… and just kept going.

It felt amazing, although I was surprised to win – I don’t think anyone was expecting it, although I was surprised he was such a big price, as he’s won first time out before.

Celia’s a really cool lady and her and her team, Laura and Jill, work so hard. They deserved their reward.

And how did you get to ride Illico De Cotte?

(Trainer) Will Biddick rang me last week. He knew I was looking for another pointer, thought I might be interested in Illico De Cotte, and his owner Jeremy Hill said I could ride him on Sunday. I’m now going to share the horse 50/50 with Jeremy and I’ll keep the ride on him going forward.

Jeremy (right) and Molly after Illico De Cotte wins (Will Shields)

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the other horse (Walk Of No Shame) hadn’t run out at the second last, but I didn’t feel under any pressure at the time – I guess we’ll never know!

Which other jockeys do you admire?

Among the professionals, Rachael Blackmore – obviously – and I really like both Charlie Deutsch and Ciaran Gethings. In points, Gina Andrews and Izzie Marshall are easy to admire, as was Will Biddick before he retired.

Charlie Deutsch (blue and green) in action in his pointing days

What's your favourite course?

When I started, I really liked Larkhill – you don’t have to count the circuits! Maisemore Park is great and Cocklebarrow and Lockinge are fun days out – what any point-to-point should be.

Lockinge - what a point-to-point should be (Carl Evans)

What are you most looking forward to about the rest of the season and what are your ambitions in pointing and racing? Do you hope to emulate the success of your father, aunt and uncle?

There’s no pressure from Dad, Gee and Mark, who’s my jockey coach – they’ve all been very helpful. Of course I’d like to emulate them, and I’d consider turning professional if the opportunity came to me, rather than me looking for it.

What would you do if you were in charge of the sport?

I’d make it easier to watch replays of races, as access to videos is important for selling horses.

I think GB Pointing and the ‘blue mics’ are really good.

What are your non-horsey hobbies?

I used to play hockey when I was at school and have lots of fun in Oxford that doesn’t involve horses!

You have an interesting middle name, Cinderella. Do you know the reasons behind it?

I’m going to name and shame Dad here! It’s got nothing to do with the Disney princess – I don’t think he knows she exists. He had a relative he liked called Cinderella. It’s totally random and I just appreciate that it’s not my first name!