Taking The Reins Podcast: Rossa Ryan on the July Cup

The brilliant success at Newmarket was the highlight of a hugely successful season for the rider who is the star of episode two of our Taking The Reins Podcast Series which is available now.

Talking to host Adam McNamara, he said: "There was a lot of relief, I just thought it was a burden. I’d had good chances in Group Ones over the last two or three years and I came up short in a couple of them by fine margins, and that was gutting.

"Then for Shaquille to win doing what he did was a bit surreal because what he did mid-race, I’d say 99 out of 100 horses wouldn't win after that."

Given the way the race unfolded for him, Ryan admits there were two or three moments of genuine concern as Julie Camacho’s star scorched down the July Course.

“He didn't jump great but jumped quicker than he did in the Commonwealth Cup under Oisin (Murphy) and we didn't go mad. I ended up getting on to the heels of them quicker than I would've probably wanted to without doing anything.

“I suppose at Ascot he got on to the heels of them but they were going a right gallop, so he (Oisin) was able to hang on to him. But the day i rode him, they weren't!

"I got within a length of Kinross, and I started to see heels coming, and I was like 'ah I can't keep hold of this lad'.

"James Doyle told me going out 'just go with him, wherever you are, just go with him', so when I did pull him out I just had to go.

"To be fair to Shaquille once he put his head in front of Tim Easterby's horse (Art Power) I could feel him fill his lungs on me and I thought 'right this is going to go one way and we're either going to stop here now or we're going to go'.

"Two out he came right in underneath me and I was ready to go and he picked up.

"Then I could see someone coming at us in the corner of my eye, I think it was Trevor Whelan, and I thought ‘oh no, not again, just get to the line’, and he did just that.

"It was something special, definitely something you get up every day just to try and get a chance to do again.”

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