Sean Bowen: 'I'm useless at everything else bar riding horses - it drives my partner mad!'

Sean Bowen returned to the saddle from over a month on the sidelines on Friday. Ahead of his fierce title battle with Harry Cobden, who cut his lead in the jockeys' championship to just one, we have republished this interview with Sean Bowen, which was first published exclusively for Racing Post Members' Club subscribers in November.

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To mangle a well-known and popular piece of philosophy: there's no such thing as bad weather, just poor mental attitude. Which may be why, as the rest of us trudge torrentially from car park to gate to betting ring, with socks already dampening and little drops of rain dripping down the backs of our necks, Sean Bowen is skipping merrily back to the Lingfield weighing room with seemingly not a care in the world.

I imagine, of course, that it's far easier to make light of the elements when you're standing well clear atop the jockeys' table, within touching distance of 100 winners for the season, peering over your shoulder at rivals who look in need of oxygen. Added to which, when you're on your game, you tend to make the right calls, whatever the weather. But this is a serious Surrey monsoon.

Today, with his sodden silks discarded, waiting in chipper fashion for the inquisition to begin, it becomes clear that Bowen has chosen his undergarments well. Where many of us would have settled for a thermal vest from Marks and Sparks, the 26-year-old is light enough to be able to afford the luxury of a white plastic, wet-look top that presumably laughs in the face of precipitation and may well be on special offer in the men's section of Ann Summers.

"We love this weather, don't we?" he grins. "Proper National Hunt. Some horses love it, some don't, but they all go slower and that makes it easier to ride a race."

You see, when you're on a roll, it's not about staying dry, it's about making the most of the conditions, and Bowen has been doing that through drought and deluge. He started out with a summer flurry for his dad, Peter (for whom he has bagged 30 so far this term), and has continued in the same vein for his other chief supplier, Olly Murphy – not to mention a significant tranche for the raiding Gordon Elliott yard.

Sean Bowen in his early days with dad Peter, who is central to the title bidCredit: Mark Cranham

All of which has propelled last season's runner-up into a dominant position at this very early stage of the campaign, and unlike many of his more wary colleagues he is in no mood to deny that the title is something he wants more than I want an umbrella.

'I want to be champion, of course I do'

"It's been an amazing season so far," enthuses Bowen. "You always hope it'll go this well but you never expect it. It's gone great, hasn't it?"

This is no time for an argument. Bowen has his tail up and it soon becomes clear that he's in no mood to play down talk of himself as a serious title contender, which is as refreshing as it is understandable. Yes, there's a long way to go, but you'd rather be 30-odd ahead than 30-odd behind, and there's no equivocation as he declares himself up for the fight.

"I was second last season, having a fight with Brian [Hughes], until November came and I couldn't keep the numbers up," he recalls of a campaign in which he notched 125 wins yet still finished 40 adrift. "But now I've got yards that have plenty of horses to run and plenty of winners to come, so hopefully I'll be able to sustain it. 

"When I was 16 or 17 I just wanted to be a successful jockey, and riding for Paul [Nicholls] it was all about the big days, but when I left there I just wanted to ride as many winners as I could, and once you've decided that, you want to be champion jockey, of course you do.

"I've wanted to do it for a good while, I've worked at it for a few years and it's building in the right direction now."

There's no hint of waiting until the last month and then raising your game – or even pretending that's the case. Bowen is clear in his mind that the championship is a badge of pride, to be sought and seized, and he now finds himself equipped for the fight. So, why should this be his time?

"Well, I was with Harry Fry, who's a great trainer but at the same time likes to do everything steady and aim at the big day. I rode two Grade 1 winners for him [If The Cap Fits and Metier] and they're still the only two I've ridden – I remember being beaten on Clan Des Obeaux and Cyrname for Paul, so I know how hard it is and what a relief it is when you finally manage it – but he wanted to do things a bit differently and I was probably getting a bit frustrated that I always wanted to strike out and be champion jockey, so it's probably worked out for the best for both of us. Now I'm with trainers who want the big winners but also want the day-to-day winners.

"Olly's learned off one of the best, in Gordon, so he's hungry for more and more, every day of the week, and when Dickie [Richard Johnson] retired and I ended up getting a lot of Gordon's rides over here, it was a big help, along with my tie with Martin Keighley."

Sean Bowen: single-minded focus on race-ridingCredit: Edward Whitaker

Indeed, the sheer volume of rides has led Bowen to the sort of decision that can be traced back to AP McCoy, the great game-changer for jockeys.

Since McCoy handed over the rest of his life to a small team of loyal staff to concentrate solely on riding, single-mindedness has been the order of the day. Bowen now has a driver and can't quite understand how it would be possible to take on his volume of rides (652 last season and quite likely more this) without one.

In addition, he also refuses to get involved in the minutiae of daily life, although this is less down to professional ambition and more to rank incompetence, as his partner Harriet Matthews, whom he met at the Nicholls yard, would no doubt confirm.

"Harriet does everything for me and it drives her mad how useless I am at everything else bar riding horses," he says with appropriate sheepishness. And it really is a nigh-on universal uselessness, he admits. "Apparently like every man on the planet, I'm useless at finding things in the house. Any paperwork I hand it to Harriet and she deals with it. DIY? Absolutely no chance. Anything that needs doing in the house, she has to do it or we have to pay someone.

"The way I see it, it's all about turning up every day and trying to ride more and more winners, but you need a bit of help. I'm lucky to have a great family behind me and Oaksey House is a massive benefit as well, so I can get on with the only thing I'm any good at!"

'The Racing Channel used to drive me mad'

You might think excellence in the saddle was a given, in the sense that Bowen comes from one of Britain's most celebrated racing families and was surrounded by success every day of his young life. He grew up watching the likes of Jamie Moore and Tom O'Brien put dad Peter's horses through their paces at home, yet the bug bit him later than you might imagine.

"I wasn't at all enthusiastic at first," he confesses. "I was football mad, loved Chelsea, and then when I was about 12 [his younger brother] James started getting on a few ponies, and my elder brother Mickey has always been mad into it, so I had to go along with it or I'd have had nothing else to do.

"I'd hate coming into the house and the Racing Channel being on every day, though. It was so boring and it used to drive me mental, but we had a really old, lazy pony we could ride up the gallop every evening and pretend we were jockeys, and now I can't think how there was a time when I didn't enjoy it."

The local education authorities seem to have turned something of a blind eye towards the Bowen boys' rather patchy attendance records – especially on work mornings – and by the time he was 14 and shining on the pony racing circuit, Sean had decided he "wanted to be a jockey, be the best and win everything".

Sean Bowen: privileged to grow up in a golden age of jump jockeysCredit: Edward Whitaker

There was no pressure in that direction from Peter or Sean's mother Karen, and you can bet his head won't be allowed to get any bigger now that he sees himself as a title contender, but the connection continues to stand him in good stead.

"I don't think the family look at me any differently," he says hopefully. "They've always been a massive support and I've ridden so many winners for Dad this summer, double the amount because of James's injury [a broken arm].

"It's crucial having your parents there for support when you need it. When I left Paul's, it was great to know I wasn't going to leave and have nothing to fall back on. You can be bolder with your decisions when you've got that kind of safety net."

Not only does Bowen recognise the value of the Bowen clan to his life, he has also come to recognise the privilege of growing up in what might credibly be called a golden era of National Hunt riding, competing alongside stellar names whom he looks back on as major formative influences.

It meant more to win when you were beating the best, he reasons, and it was never hard to be humble when you were in such exalted company.

"I like to think I didn't go into the weighing room with the wrong attitude, because Mum and Dad would never have put up with that," he reflects, "and anyway I was lucky in that when I started, AP was still riding, Dickie was still riding, Ruby [Walsh] was still riding, Barry [Geraghty] was still riding, Davy Russell has only just retired. That kind of generation won't come around again for a while so I think I was lucky to be there, especially when I look back and remember that AP handed me the conditional jockeys' title at Sandown on his last day at the end of my first season.

"They were all great jockeys but very different people. AP would keep himself to himself, which was his character, and Dickie was a very nice guy who would give you any help you needed. But the two I looked up to most were Barry and Davy, both very relaxed people, relaxed on a horse, great at settling them. I'd say they were my favourites, but there were so many good ones among them."

'When you get to 100 winners, you want 150'

The days in the depths of 1971 when Stan Mellor's 1,000th winner was greeted with incredulity and a big splash in the national press are long gone. Bowen mentions in passing that he recently passed the 800 mark, and while he's evidently proud of the achievement, he has other approaching milestones on his mind.

Like any jockey teetering in the high 90s for the season, he's been keen to get the century ticked off, which he did at Uttoxeter on Saturday, but that raises the question of just how high he thinks he can go. We're not talking McCoy-like totals here, but recent evidence suggests a total between the broad parameters of 165 and 205 would be necessary to take the jockeys' title. Sounds feasible to me, but does it sound feasible to him?

"I'd been counting down to 800," he says, "and I've been wanting to get to 100 for the season, then you're counting down to 150, and when you've got 150 you want 200, don't you?"

It's starting to sound like an unguarded statement of intent, although when he fears he might be getting ahead of himself, he reins it in a little.

"I don't have a certain target," he insists. "I just want to be champion and whether that happens or not I don't know. At the minute, the target is champion jockey and however many winners it takes to get there.

"Is 200 feasible? I suppose we're only halfway through the season, so it's a good target to aim for."

What we can agree on is that, while one championship would be great, 20 must have required inhuman levels of ambition and resilience.

"The title is relentless," he declares, having seen it at close hand in the weighing room and experienced it for himself of late. "I don't know how McCoy did it for so long, and even more so I don't know how Dickie did it for so long when he wasn't winning the title. That would drive you mad, all that relentless effort and no title at the end of it.

"That's why I've got a driver now. I don't think you can do it on your own.

'My blood won't be up until it's April and I can really go for it'

"How many clear am I at the moment?" Bowen asks. I put it to him that he knows precisely how many clear he is because he checks on the Racing Post website every day, but he sticks to his guns – sort of.

"I know it's 30-something and yes, I do look at it, but I look at it more when I'm riding winners than when I'm not," he concedes with a smile.

In a few minutes, he'll slip the dry, white and black silks of the BadJams 5 Syndicate over his wet-look vest and ride his 98th winner of the season aboard Theyseekhimthere at 125-1, swiftly followed by his 99th on Dysania for his father. It's been a good day, another one, following on from a season in which he picked up the ride on Noble Yeats and rode him into fourth place in the Gold Cup and Grand National.

"The more horses you ride like him the better," he says. "Everyone's looking for the nice ones and there are a few I think could make the grade for me, like one of Olly's called Indeevar Bleu. He won a bumper very impressively at Wetherby last season and was beaten favourite next time at Ayr in what probably wasn't my finest hour, but he'll have learned plenty and could turn out to be pretty good."

Beyond that, though, he's trying hard, obviously to ride winners, but also to manage his own expectations and those of the people who already have him marked down as champion jockey.

"I don't think I ever look that far in advance," he maintains. "I like to think I'm a fairly relaxed person, able to take it day by day, ride as many winners as possible and keep your trainers as happy as you can.

"I don't think my blood will properly be up until we get to April and I'm in a situation where I can really go for it."

Come rain or shine, few of us would bet against him being bang there when the prizes are dished out.

More Sunday Reads:

Luca Morgan: 'I thought, 'What the hell am I doing?' I was burning myself alive to lose weight and it wasn't even working’ 

Venetia Williams: 'The first time you almost stumble upon it, and when you strive for it again, that’s the difficult part' 

Colin Tizzard: 'I had to have five pints before I could ask a girl to dance!' 

Patrick Mullins: we came, we saw, we left with our tails between our legs - but I've never seen anything quite like it 

Harry Cobden: 'I came home that night and half thought, right, I've had enough of this - but that's a coward's thing to do' 

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