Jamie Spencer reveals the secret of his success at Ascot

Jamie Spencer has attributed his success on the straight course at Ascot to a piece of advice from Irish jockey Charlie Swan which has stuck with him for 16 years.

Spencer was talking to the Racing Post for a major interview in Sunday’s newspaper in which he explains why a jockey’s existence can be a lonely one, reveals a narrow escape from a long whip ban, and reflects on his own short-lived retirement at a time when his friend Frankie Dettori is poised to make a more permanent farewell.

The 43-year-old jockey sparked a golden run of form with a double at last month’s Royal Ascot meeting, winning the Buckingham Palace Stakes on 50-1 shot Witch Hunter and the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes on another huge outsider, 80-1 chance Khaadem, to reinforce his reputation as a man to follow on Ascot’s straight course.

Always in demand among trainers with hold-up horses, Spencer put his prowess down to having walked the course with Swan, the nine-time champion jockey over jumps in Ireland most famous for his association with the great Istabraq.

“When I was a kid growing up, Charlie was somebody I really looked up to,” Spencer recalled. “As a jumps jockey he won so many races he shouldn’t have because he was the greatest tactician. So we were walking, and when we reached the junction where the round course meets the straight, Charlie looked up the hill and said it was so unforgiving – especially at the royal meeting.

“He told me that when you thought it was time to go, you had to count to ten to fill your horse up, then you could go. It was a great insight; his words have never left me.”

Spencer rode Excellent Art to win the St James’s Palace Stakes later that day and has never looked back.

“The straight track at Ascot is very wide,” he added, “so trigger-happy riders can go for home any time they want to. It is all too easy to go early, maybe two and a half furlongs out. It’s a long way home from there.”

 in The Big Read, available in Sunday's newspaper or online for Members' Club Ultimate subscribers from 6pm on Saturday. Click here to sign up.

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