Home » Sport » Seven Olympics, two gold medals and knighted by the Queen – Sir Mark Todd now targets a Royal occasion of another type

Seven Olympics, two gold medals and knighted by the Queen – Sir Mark Todd now targets a Royal occasion of another type

15/06/2021

SEVEN Olympics, two gold medals and ‘Rider of the 20th Century.’ Not bad going.

That glittering career ensured Mark Todd became Sir Mark Todd in 2013 and was recognised throughout the world as one of the greatest ever horsemen.

But things might have been different if the 65-year-old had got his own way early in life.

“I actually wanted to be a jockey at first,” laughs the six-foot three New Zealander.

“If I’d been smaller I would have probably given it a real crack! As a kid at school I’d go and ride trackwork and help out at stables.

“Up until I was about 16 I was small and skinny, then I grew tall and skinny and started smoking. So had I not, who knows what might have happened.”

Todd’s first eventing gold came in Los Angeles 1984 and his last Olympic appearance came a whopping 32 years later in 2016.

There was a brief retirement in the middle of that, as well as a period training Flat horses back home in New Zealand.

But Burghley and Badmintons are no more, Todd is eyeing up a Royal occasion of another sort.

His Tasman Bay will take in Friday’s King Edward VII after skipping a shot at the Derby for his owner and mate Sir Peter Vela.

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In 2019 the Kiwi took out his licence again and now trains from his own Foxhill yard just outside Lambourn where he lives with his wife Carolyn.

He explained: “It’s been a funny start to put it lightly. We probably couldn’t have picked a worst time to start given the pandemic, but what can you do?

“It’s been a challenge like I’ve never faced, but I feel we’re starting to progress now and I’ve always been a competitor. I thrive off it.

“My first horse to race since I took my licence out again was in a Group 1 in Australia, Eminent, in 2019.

“I’d trained in New Zealand before and we won the Oaks out there and a few Group 1s so I’m not completely new to this, although this is a different level.

“Here we had a couple of horses in work and it was very low-key to start with. We were starting properly the next year and then COVID happened.

“I had a bunch of two-year-olds and they were starting off, I was trying to get rolling and it was just a funny year for us. We only had one winner!

“This year has started better, we had six winners quite early on in the year.

“But I’m not here to be having runners at Wolverhampton every week, even though I seem to spend most of my time there at the moment! It’s the Ascots and the Goodwoods I want to be at.”

Todd admits his knowledge of the formbook and race planning are streets behind his competitors but reckons he makes up for it with his handling of the horses.

At the end of the day, there aren’t many better riders you’d want to be bringing through your new two-year-old.

He laughed: “We do get a lot of enquiries about taking in tricky horses other people can’t work out, but that’s not what I’m here for!

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“That said, we do mix the training up a lot more than I know the more traditional trainers might use in say Lambourn and Newmarket.

“The training is slightly different, but the horsemanship side of things I’d say is similar. In eventing you want to have the horse as fit as you can and well trained to do their job.

“If you can do that, it’s the same thing I’m trying to do now, but there’s a different method of getting there.

“We’re lucky here, we have all sorts of things we can do with the horses.

“We can go up to the ridgeway on easier days for a hack. We can pop them over some logs and poles to mix things up and keep varying their routines. We have a round gallop, a hill gallop. All horses are different, so some take to different things better than others.”

Tasman Bay is already taking the stable to the big occasion and means Todd can finally get away from his dreaded drives to Wolverhampton.

An impressive win at Newcastle shot him into the limelight before he finished behind Derby third Hurricane Lane at Newbury and John Leeper at Newmarket on his next outing.

And Todd thinks he’s a horse who will continue to improve as the year goes on.

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He said: “At the moment I’m just trying to win races at any level. But when you have a horse like Tasman Bay you do think a bit further ahead.

“The whole reason people train is to dream of having runners in the big races. One of the reasons I decided to start here was because the biggest and best races are here.

“If I can pick up a Group 1 here or an Ascot winner that would top anything I did in New Zealand and I don’t want to compare it to my eventing days but it would be right up there.

“So to have a horse that we can take to Ascot so soon and to have spoken about the Derby is really exciting, it’s what I want.

“To have been in eventing at a very high level, and even when I was show jumping as well, I wasn’t in that for fun. I’ve tasted sport at the top for years and years so I don’t want that to change now I’m in a different sport.

“So to go to Ascot with a horse we think a lot of and all the history there is hopefully the start.

“I can’t wait. I know it’s not a full crowd, but it’s going to be some buzz.”

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