We wanted to check in with the first-flight as the spring season closes with the summer season a full six weeks away.

What are they doing? What are they planning? What are they thinking about summer, fall and beyond?

Check out our ‘Five minute interviews’ – five questions for the top five riders heading into the major track season.

By Betsy Burke Parker

🥇 Birthdate: Oct. 31, 1995

🥇 Born: Oxford, England

🥇 U.S. base: Coatesville, Pennsylvania

🥇 First race ride: Ludlow, 2014

🥇 Biggest U.S. moment: Major upset victory with 41-1 Noah and the Ark, who stunned odds-on favorite Snap Decision in the grade 1 Lonesome Glory at Aqueduct last fall.

🥇 Horse history: “I did a lot of eventing, hunting and showing growing up, which I loved.”

🥇 Bet you didn’t know: Beswick was a competitive skateboarder through his mid-teens.

Temple Gwathmey Steeplechase Foundation: Your first U.S. meet was Tryon two years ago. How’d you find the jumps scene in America? Same and comfortable like an old bedroom slipper or new and unique and dramatically different?

Harrison Beswick: There's a lot of differences between riding in the UK and the U.S., but ultimately we are just galloping around in a circle.

The tracks here are tighter and ground is faster. The U.S. hurdle is different to that of the UK hurdle, more a blend between the (bigger) English ‘chase fence and the (smaller) English hurdle. The U.S. national fence rides very well.

The heat also factors in as it makes for a very different racing condition to back home.

TGSF: You’ve ridden plenty of very good horses in your dual-continent career. No fair playing favorites, but what’s the best horse you’ve ridden?

HB: I would have to say Noah and the Ark is the best horse I've sat on – I've never had a feel over a fence like he gives me.

I've been very lucky to sit on some very nice horses back home and in France too. I rode Willoughby Court for Ben Pauling, who went on to win the Neptune Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. I rode a fantastic mare for Oliver Sherwood called Papagana, (and) Diesel D'Allier in France who later won the Cross-country ‘chase at Cheltenham.

TGSF: You’re topping the rider table headed into the summer season. How does that feel? Have you been in the catbird seat before?

HB: I've never been in this situation before, and it does bring a lot of different pressures that I haven't experienced.

I am enjoying it, but I'll be glad when the season’s over!

Racing tends to base itself on “fashion,” so if you're riding winners, you're fashionable and you get more and better rides.

But you are only as good as what you're sitting on.

TGSF: We’re heading into an oddly-long, six-week break. What do you have planned? There’s got to be a balance between letting go for a little while and eating what you want and relaxing, but still staying focused on the serious summer season and the fall championship meets.

HB: I enjoy spending time in the gym so I'll continue to do that through the break.

I have a holiday booked with my girlfriend, Charlotte, to go to Portugal, and I'll get a few surf trips in whilst I'm home too.

Looking forward to switching off!

TGSF: You’re one of the riders who seems to have as much success over timber as you do over hurdles. That’s for sure something unique to the American jump game.

HB: I enjoy both of them as long as the horse knows what he's doing!

Timber is a much different style, but a good hunting background will stand you in good stead. I find the timber races very similar to cross-country racing in France. You typically go (a bit) slower, and the horses are so well schooled you just leave them to it.

🥈 Birthdate: Oct. 12, 1991

🥈 Born: County Meath, Ireland

🥈 U.S. base: Sparks, Maryland

🥈 First U.S. ride: Two winners at the Radnor meet in 2017.

🥈 Won the NSA rider crown in 2021 with a winner on the final day of the season to take the title over Tom Garner.

🥈 Regular rider for Hall of Fame trainer Jack Fisher.

TGSF: Play favorites – best horse you’ve ridden? (We bet we know what your answer will be!)

GW: Has to be Snap Decision. I’ve won three grade 1’s and two grade 2’s on him.

He’s an absolute superstar of a horse, a pleasure to do anything with, very professional all the time with a great mind and he just loves to work hard.

He’s a fantastic ride in a race and just fills you with confidence.

When the guys are trying to take you on towards the end of a race, he just keeps finding more and more … and more.

He has this massive engine. I will never come across a horse like him ever again.

TGSF: What time is your alarm set for? Early bird or night owl? (Or both!)

GW: During the season while I’m riding at Jack Fisher’s, I get up at 5:30 a.m. (My wife) Rosie and I have a new farm not far from Jack’s and run a small business of our own barn, so we like to get up and get the stalls mucked and horses organized before we both head off to our (other) jobs.

After a morning’s riding out, we come home and do our own.

TGSF: You’ve had some real success through the years here – champion in 2021, tons of big wins. Is it luck of the Irish? Do you have the traditional “lucky socks” or a special race day ritual for luck?

GW: No, no lucky charms. I don’t believe in superstition.

I feel there are too many things at play for “luck” to have anything to do with it.

At the end of the day, we are a bunch of idiots galloping around a field on a herd of horses.

TGSF: How does this year compare to your magical year in ‘21? Does it feel like deja vous all over again, sitting super close to the top of the table?

GW: This season has been going fantastic (until I broke my back – falling with Tapwood at the Virginia Gold Cup meet May 6.)

I should be back for the start of the summer racing season.

This season it seems to be a much more level playing field with Harry Beswick and Barry John Foley who have been working hard and banging in some good winners.

But I feel I have the same momentum as in 2021 when I was champion, if I remember right, I was barely ahead with winners all season.

Eddie Keating was in the lead at the start of the summer, then I didn’t have one winner all summer. With three weekends left in the season, I was five winners down and I ended up winning it by two.

There were a lot of life lessons learned that season – (the main one being) don’t count your chickens ….

TGSF: What’s the month of June got in store for you? It’s a break of sorts on the American jumps scene, but you’ve got the complication of a broken back to deal with for goodness sakes.

GW: I took a bad fall at the Gold Cup in early May, and I’ve had to take eight weeks off.

I broke a vertebrae, but it doesn’t require surgery – I’m just taking it easy.

We’re lucky enough (to) have a barn of horses at home to keep me and Rosie busy.

Apart from the horses, I do a lot of bicycle racing when I’m not horse racing. I love training hard on the bike and push training to the limits to see what your body is capable of.

But for now, I just have the bike set up at home on a trainer. Hopefully the doctor will give me the go-ahead to get back out on the road in a few weeks.

Rosie and I will try to head back to (my homeland) Ireland and (her homeland) Scotland for a week or two before Colonial and Saratoga start back up.

🥉 Birthdate: Aug. 14, 1984

🥉 Born: County Cork, Ireland

🥉 U.S. base: Middleburg, Virginia

🥉 Started out: With Irish jumps trainer Eugene O’Sullivan

🥉 First U.S. ride: Curve of Stones for fellow Irishman David Bourke at the Loudoun Point-to-Point in April, 2016

TGSF: You’ve got a unique situation – busy professional horseman with a busy professional horsewoman wife (Sara Katz Foley) **plus** a baby girl (Scarlet.) I bet you get an early start! What time is your alarm set?

BJF: The alarm varies, but if I forget to set it, my daughter is like clockwork – she’s awake at 7 a.m. every morning.

Mondays are my earliest starts, since I go to Keri Brion’s (in Fair Hill, Maryland from our base near Middleburg, Virginia) every Monday to school. This is a three-hour drive, so I get going at 5 a.m. on Mondays.

But we’re lucky enough to have a nanny so we can both go do our jobs.

I help out at (Sara’s) the barn all the time and we keep a few horses together.

TGSF: You’ve been leading rider before?

BJF: I’ve been the leading Virginia rider a few times but never overall champion.

Ya, it’s been a great season so far. I’m very lucky to have a lot of nice horses to look forward to for the summer.

TGSF: Speaking of summer, what’s your plans the next few weeks?

BJF: I’ll play a lot of golf with my friend Liam McVicar. And try not to eat too much!

We head to the Emerald Isle next weekend for a long weekend – me, Sara and Scarlet, (to stay) at her grandparents’ beach house. And then a couple of weeks in Ireland before summer racing starts.

4️⃣ Birthdate: March 3, 2004

4️⃣ Born: Rathnew, County Wicklow, Ireland

4️⃣ U.S. base: Unionville, Pennsylvania

4️⃣ Pre-training? Riding lessons led to showjumping and dressage but always the interest in racing.

4️⃣ First racehorses? With Prunella Dobbs in Wicklow, riding out for her at the weekend and during school breaks.

4️⃣ Then? Irish trainer Peter Croke, who also gave Tierney his first ride in January, 2022. Also rode for Harley Dunne in Wexford.

4️⃣ Unbelievable? The Maryland Hunt Cup is only his second winner under rules.

TGSF: Irish jump racing vs. American jump racing? Compare, contrast.

CT: Probably the biggest difference I’ve seen between Irish and U.S. (jump) racing is the fast ground over in America. You very rarely see soft ground here.

TGSF: You’ve ridden quite some nice horses in your fledgling season in the U.S. How do they compare to “quality” horses back home?

CT: I get to ride out and school so many high class horses in America for Kathy (Neilson) and Leslie (Young.) Withoutmoreado, Fashion Line, The Hero Next Door, Andi’amu, Tomgarrow, Redicean, Caramelised.

When you ride a high-class horse, they do feel different than an average horse. I suppose a comparison I can make is like sitting in a Ferrari as soon as you start the engine you know it’s a high-power car: Same with a horse – as soon as you gallop, you can feel the power.

TGSF: Your (new) “home” meet was pretty remarkable a couple weeks ago.

CT: I rode my first treble at Willowdale. That was unbelievable.

It is very true the better you ride, the better – horses – you ride. I was riding with much more confidence after getting my first sanctioned win on Fashion Line at My Lady’s Manor.

It was like a weight lifted off my shoulders.

TGSF: They say it takes a village to make a champion jockey – anyone that gets a shout-out for bringing you along this season?

CT: There are many people that have helped me in so many ways while being in the U.S., Katherine Neilson being the main one as she took the chance on bringing me over.

I am very grateful for all the opportunities she gave me.

Irv Naylor has played a big part, and I’m grateful that he gave me a chance.

The other jockeys that are in the U.S. are very helpful to me. They gave me advice on how to ride the tracks here, and things to do and don’t do.

I was delighted to be just getting a few rides in point-to-points, and then to even (get a) ride in the Maryland Hunt Cup was a huge achievement.

Never mind win it!

TGSF: Sounds like the luck of the Irish followed you west!

CT: I have a holy cross on my back protector that my mother gave me that keeps me safe while I’m out riding.

Other than that I don’t have many superstitions.  

TGSF: Your breakout spring was actually supposed to be a short stay, and we know you’re headed home soon. You ever coming back?

CT: I’m in Ireland for June and July, but I plan on coming back (to the U.S.) in August and staying for the fall season. I will be riding out back home to stay fit, but I’ll enjoy myself by allowing a bit of extra food this summer!

5️⃣ Birthdate: May 15, 1994

5️⃣ Born: Tipperary, Ireland

5️⃣ U.S. base: Butler, Maryland

5️⃣ First U.S. mount: April 21, 2021 (Turbo Drive in the maiden hurdle at Tryon; he was fourth)

5️⃣ Radnor double: Closed out the spring season with a two-fer at Radnor (Brown Delivers in the maiden starter and Awakened in the allowance)

TGSF: You’ve ridden some good horses back home, and some good ones here, too. They’re comparable?

JB: I ride Snap Decision at home when (his regular jockey) Graham Watters isn’t around! He’s pretty fast to work.  

The best horses I’ve ridden, back home, probably are Imperial Commander (a top 'chaser with earnings of more than 750,000 pounds and starter in the 2013 English Grand National) and Sprinter Sacre (top hurdler and ‘chaser – won at the 2016 Cheltenham Festival.)

TGSF: What’s your morning routine here – it’s a little different working on an American farm versus in an Irish or English yard?

JB: I live pretty close to Jack (Fisher’s farm near Monkton, Maryland), so I get up around 6:45 a.m. Coffee, and then head to work.

TGSF: Any heroes of racing that have inspired your career?

JB: I was lucky enough to ride with (Sir Anthony Peter) AP McCoy. But he was impossible to imitate. (*Ed. note: McCoy rode a record 4,358 winners, and was champion jockey a record 20 consecutive times in Ireland.)

I also learned a lot from working with and watching Sam Twiston-Davies.

TGSF: Speaking of Ireland, any plans for a home-holiday during this six-week break?

JB: Heading home to Ireland for a few weeks. I’ll play a lot of golf and soccer.

I’ve always gotta keep on top of my weight, so no overeating while I’m home.

(* Ed. note: David England and Freddie Procter are also sitting on five wins from the spring season, but Bargary’s money won and places edge him into the official top five.)

Harry Beswick and Barry John Foley have a bit of fun at the Foxfield Spring Races.

©Camden Littleton / Foxfield Races