Barry gets McHuge lift on sick parade (From Gazette & Herald)

Barry gets McHuge lift on sick parade

10:12am Friday 3rd February 2012 in Sport By Steve Carroll, Sports reporter

INJURY is a word every jockey dreads. It is part and parcel of a rider’s life – an unavoidable consequence of a profession where speed is king. But when the bones heal and the swelling subsides it can also be a hard road back.

An absent jockey is sometimes a forgotten one. Fresh faces emerge, new loyalties are bonded in the celebrations of the winner’s enclosure.

So when Barry McHugh says getting injured was the best thing to ever happen to him, anyone would be entitled to be sceptical.

The Norton jockey was flying, having secured 23 winners, when he was hurt in the stalls riding the Neville Bycroft-trained Thatcherite at Ripon last May. The ‘Iron Lady’ left McHugh with a fractured bone at the top of his foot, and a chip for good measure, along with a six-week spell on the sidelines.

McHugh looked on the bright side. He recuperated, ended the Flat season with a half century and, shortly after, landed a plum job as first rider at Brian Ellison’s burgeoning Spring Cottage stables.

“I came back and I think it (injury) was the best thing that happened to me,” he said.

“It can get a bit hectic and, sometimes, you need time out. I came back a better rider. I came back stronger.”

It is hardly surprising McHugh took such a setback in his stride. Having originally joined Richard Fahey’s Malton yard in 2005, he endured a frustrating couple of seasons, struggling with weight, before Knot In Wood lit the fuse for the Irishman’s sudden explosion on the northern scene.

Fahey’s redoubtable sprinter won the Sky Bet Dash at York in July 2009 and, later that summer, McHugh came within a whisker of winning the hat-trick of Gold, Silver and Bronze Cups at Ayr — lifting the latter two with Kaldoun Kingdom and Baldemar.

The following season he claimed 60 winners and, among 50 last year, lifted the Bronze Cup again on board Coolminx.

Despite his success, though, opportunities will always be limited at Musley Bank. Paul Hanagan, champion jockey for the last two years, has the first pick of the yard. And it’s the ambition to ride winners in the bigger races that has led McHugh to link up with Ellison.

“I’m still going to Musley Bank two days a week and would never cut my ties with Richard,” he said.

“Brian approached me and I thought ‘better being first choice than third or fourth’. It was a no-brainer – just one of those things you can’t turn down.

“It’s a big yard and it’s great to be riding for a good stable. We struck up a good partnership last winter. He had Dale (Swift) there and a few other lads and he was looking for someone who will be there all the time.

“I’ll have the pick of his horses – the choice of everything – and that’s a great position to be in.

“He had 85 winners last year over both codes and it is a yard that is getting better and better. He’s a good trainer, a clever man, and, as a jockey, you aim to be riding in these good races. I’m getting the chance to ride better horses.”

He added: “It all kicked off for me when Knot In Wood won at York. Ever since then, I haven’t looked back and it has been getting better and better every year.

“I want to be a good jockey in the north, not just a journeyman, and what you want in this game is to ride better horses on the big Saturdays.

“I had a few good winners for Richard last year and this is a really exciting time.

“In the big handicaps, Richard will always have five or six and he is a good mate to me. He said I would have been mad not to go and he didn’t just want me for himself.”

As the Flat horses return to work, in anticipation of a new turf campaign less than two months away, McHugh is now familiarising himself with the runners Ellison hopes will help him to another record year of winners.

“I’m there four mornings a week and I am just getting round the horses now and riding them out,” he said.

“There are some exciting horses. It looks like Stormy Weather will run on the Flat and he looks to be a Northumberland Plate horse. Hopefully he will be something to look forward to. Brian always does well with dual purpose horses.

“Dream Wind is a horse that had a few problems and Abergavenny will also run on the Flat, while Marsh Warbler, who won a Grade 1 over hurdles, could be pretty well handicapped back on turf. I’m riding out these type of horses most mornings.”

McHugh’s enthusiasm is infectious and, with a number of other trainers to ride for alongside piloting the best of the Ellison brigade, the rider has set himself an ambitious target for the rest of the calendar year.

“I’m hoping to try to ride 100 winners,” he said.

“I don’t see a reason why I can’t. I have plenty of good yards to ride for and that’s what I am looking to achieve this year.

“With me riding 70-odd horses for Brian I might be able to have 150 more rides next season. That could result in a lot of winners. I can’t wait to get started.”