Success No Accident For Jockey Bishop

[Wandering Eyes]

It is presumed that a trainer might have a few reassuring words for their rider prior to what could be a seminal race in both of their careers.

In the case of jockey Charlie Bishop and trainer Eve Johnson Houghton, the roles were reversed in the minutes leading up to the victory of Accidental Agent (GB) (Delegator {GB} in last month’s G1 Queen Anne S. at Royal Ascot.

“Eve was extremely nervous when we went to Ascot,” Bishop recalls. “When she came in to give me the saddle I even turned to her and said ‘relax, we’re here now, there’s nothing we can do about it, is there?’ I said, ‘I should be the one that’s worried now, anyway, it’s out of your hands.’ But she was nervous because she fancied him.”

“We thought he’d finish in the first four, and if he was third he’s run really well. Ascot’s his favourite track, the straight mile is his ideal conditions. We thought we’d run better than everyone else thought we’d run.”

In the aftermath of that 33-1 triumph in a driving finish to the meeting’s curtain-raiser, much of the attention was focused upon Johnson Houghton and her mother Gaie, who bred the colt no one wanted at the sales and named him after the title of the revealing wartime autobiography of her father, John Goldsmith.

Yet it was equally the crowning glory of a banner season for his 24-year-old pilot, who has already surpassed his highest annual total with a maiden half-century and counting.

“It was very surreal,” he admits. “It probably hasn’t completely sunk in now. To ride my first Royal Ascot winner and Group 1, I was telling myself that after the race. The biggest thing was seeing Eve as emotional as she was, it meant a lot to me because without her, I’d still be at the small tracks every day. To be part of something that made her that happy was an amazing feeling.”

Bishop has worked for Johnson Houghton for 3 1/2 years and is now stable jockey. However, he speaks with similar affection about Mick Channon, whom he joined at 16, and he continues to split his week on the gallops for the two nearby yards.

“When we came back in after the Queen Anne, Mick was the first person in the winner’s enclosure to congratulate us,” he says. “A lot of jockeys and trainers were saying ‘Jesus, you’d think Mick had trained a winner’, he was going round saying ‘that’s my boy.’ I’ve become part of the family. He is my boss, but there’s more than that, there’s a bond between us, and the same with Eve. I work for people I get on with, and if I was ever in any trouble or needed advice of any sort, they’re the first I’d go to.”

From Gloucestershire point-to-pointing stock, Bishop’s great uncle is trainer Dick Baimbridge, an authentic titan of amateur steeplechasing, and his peers on the pony racing circuit included the Twiston-Davies brothers Sam and Willy. Jump jockeys tend to be less guarded interviewees than their counterparts on the Flat and Bishop has followed in this regard, speaking rapidly and engagingly on numerous subjects.

A point-to-point connection found him a first chance with Andrew Balding, where he was “a bit of a little fish in a big pond” competing with the likes of the more established David Probert for rides. So, with some help from Channon’s old assistant Joe Tuite, he headed to a different academy

“Balding’s was great, it was a system of good grounding, but Mick didn’t have an apprentice at the time and it just seemed a better idea to go there for more opportunities,” he pauses.

“With Mick…character building. He’s made me into the person I am now. You need to be able to deal with people, say if you’re riding for a different trainer and you do something wrong and they have a go at you or whatever. I’ve had that many, sort of bollockings off Mick, that it goes over your head. This game’s hard, you need to have a strong mentality.”

“Mick can lose his head but five minutes later it’s forgotten about, it’s done. He’s never held a grudge or not used me because I’ve given one a bad ride.”

There is no formal position with Channon, who has used Bishop more frequently than any other jockey this season. He has advertised himself in Coolmore silks aboard debut Nottingham winner Gospel (GB) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire})–a filly he describes as “very smart”–and lately was entrusted with riding Opal Tiara (Ire) (Thousand Words {GB}) in the G1 Falmouth S. and Certain Lad (GB) (Clodovil {Ire}) in the G2 Superlative S.

He seems quietly keen on further moments in the limelight.

“Riding winners anywhere are all part of our day-to-day job but the winners that actually count are the ones at the festivals and the bigger winners at the bigger tracks,” he says. “At Ascot or Newmarket, more trainers and owners are there. The big trainers, when they’ve got a runner in a race and you’ve been in it, that helps as well. The main thing is you’ve got to be competing at the top level, and then be noticed.”

Next up will be Accidental Agent in the G1 Prix Jacques Le Marois S. There will be no replacing Bishop with a bigger name in Deauville, as he has ridden the complicated 4-year-old on all but one occasion since his juvenile debut.

“He’s never actually had any problems, just lots of niggles and setbacks,” he explains. “Mentally he’s a bit of a lunatic and he doesn’t help himself, he likes pulling his shoes off and standing on himself. He’s hard to keep fit and that’s credit to Eve.”

“He’s big and gangly, his head’s a long way from his feet, so it takes a long time to get any messages though to him, which is why a straight track suits.”

“You can’t get too involved with him. Eve goes mad at me for dropping him out last all the time but if you get him in the race he just gets himself so unorganised.”

Accidental Agent has plenty of options further on, with a return to Ascot for the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. an obvious target. He seems unlikely to accept his invitation to the G1 Cox Plate, but Bishop would be more than prepared for challenging a certain mare seeking an unprecedented fourth title.

A couple of winters back he spent six months in Australia, largely riding work but also several winners for Chris Waller, the trainer of Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire).

“I used to ride a mare called Foxplay (Aus) (Foxwedge (Aus), who won a Group 1 when I was there. They were partners and used to go out together. I’ve seen Winx do a lot of work and I get on very well with [jockey] Hugh Bowman, we’ve had lots of chats about her.”

“Someone from Waller’s messaged me asking if we were going for the Cox Plate. I said that I wished she’d have come over here because I’d have loved to take her on on a straight track! Round a bend the race would play more to her strengths than anyone else, she comes alive round Moonee Valley.”

Bishop is nonetheless careful to shy away from the role of pantomime villain over Winx, who stirs up such patriotic fervour, when asked how good she is.

“James Doyle got an awful lot of bad press over there because he said Enable was better than her, so I wouldn’t want to comment on that,” he says. “Listen, she’s fantastic, but she’s not raced against the likes of Enable, Cracksman, Alpha Centauri, our best. I’d say take nothing away from her. I’d love to just be in the same race as her and ride upsides.”

Such speculation can wait for another day. As Bishop has already expressed his gratitude to both of his main employers, his final praise can be left for Accidental Agent himself.

“He was as good as he has been at Ascot and whether he can be any better, we’ll see,” he says. “He’s put me on the map and if he takes me any further it’ll be fantastic.”

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