THURLES man Mark Loughnane is preparing for a special family moment at Ascot today when he will proudly watch son Billy achieve his dream of being crowned champion jockey in Britain.

Just three years on from lifting the apprentice title on the same day, Loughnane (aged 20) will succeed Oisin Murphy and become not only the newest name on the top jockey trophy, but also the youngest title holder in over 100 years.

“Billy is an extraordinary young man and is surpassing everything we thought was possible, he’s just different gravy,” said Loughnane senior, someone who as a trainer in his own right helped set his son on the road to success.

“Everyone that sits on a horse wants to be champion jockey and it’s happened to Billy very quickly. It will be a huge day for the family and sure to be a proud moment for us all.

“To be champion jockey is Billy’s dream. We’re a close family and that makes it our dream as well and it just goes to show if you work hard and do all you can, dreams really can come true.

“This industry is a pressure cooker that can gobble people up and spit them out and to see Billy achieve more in this sport in four years than I’ve done in 40, you have to say fair play.”

Work ethic

Billy was born in Ireland but has lived in Britain since he was five years of age.

Although blessed with natural talent that has been obvious since those formative teenage years in the saddle, it is his much heralded work ethic and drive to succeed that has turned ambitious visions into reality, with Loughnane passing 200 winners for the second year running and already surpassing the 21st century record he set a mere 10 months ago.

Special praise is reserved for Loughnane’s mother, Clare, ahead of a moment boldly predicted by the jockey’s ‘kingmaker’ agent Tony Hind earlier in the year.

“It’s Billy’s day on Saturday and hopefully there will be many more,” continued Loughnane.

“For a young man it shows dreams can happen and dreams can come true,” he added.

“We try to get there for most of his big races and the nice thing is he wants us there as well.

“We’re a very close family and he’s been at my feet since he was able to come with me to the yard.

“His agent Tony Hind has made 10 champions, he’s the kingmaker. We were at Royal Ascot earlier this year and he said to me one day, ‘do me a favour go down to the parade ring’, so I went down and he rings me and he says, ‘can you see that stage, Billy will be on there in October’.

“But the biggest influence I would say is his mum and his brother. Billy rings Jack every day about various things and his mum manages everything for both me and Billy!

“She is the woman really who needs all the plaudits and all the credit.”

Boughey treble

Today is also a special day for trainer George Boughey, who has been Loughnane’s boss for the past four years. Boughey is also master of Jack Callan, who will be crowned champion apprentice today.

Furthermore, Jack’s younger brother Henry is also set to be crowned champion flat amateur rider. Jack and Henry are sons of Neil Callan, the Kildare-born jockey who is a multiple Group 1-winning rider in Britain and Hong Kong.

Boughey said: “It’s something that we set out to do at the start of the year and the boys have been very disciplined with suspension and injury and huge credit must go to them more than anything, along with their agent Tony Hind, who has been the mastermind behind so many brilliant jockeys.”