Paul ‘Country’ Francis says he wants to start the New Year with a bang and ride 80 or more winners in 2014
JOCKEY Paul ‘Country’ Francis is banking on his strong work ethic, his ability to ride and his dedication in order to ride more winners this year.Francis says his main focus is to start and finish the season well as he plans to improve significantly the amount of times he makes that joyful trip to the winners’ enclosure.“My first plan is to get a good start and maintain it for the rest of the year. In order to do that I have to get some good rides and win more races; that’s my main focus at the moment. If I can ride 80 winners for the year, then that would be a milestone for me because I mainly ride like 60 to 70 winners each year,” the long-standing jockey popularly known as ‘Country’ told the Complete Racing Guide.Francis admitted that the Jockeys’ Championship is always on his mind as every jockey’s dream is to become a champion.“As long as the winners are coming then I don’t see why I should not challenge for the title. At some point in my career as a jockey I would love to be called a champion,” he stated, adding quickly, “You need to get the right material to win a championship, you have to get the best rides each race day, and, of course, you have to make good use of the opportunities given.”The 37-year-old, who graduated from the Guys Hill High School and who started riding at the Park in 2002, has won three apprentice titles and came close to winning the jockeys’ title in 2009 when he lost to Omar Walker by just one win.“I have won the champion apprentice three consecutive years; 2003, 2004 and 2005, so you can see that the confidence was there to win the jockeys’ championship… but it was one of those things in 2009 when everything just went wrong,” he remembered with a smile on his face.In the 2013 jockey’s race Francis finished in fifth position with 45 wins, far behind Dane Nelson who retained the championship with 116 winners.Despite riding only 45 winners in 2013, Francis is very pleased to have won a Classic race last May when he guided the Richard Azan-trained Lady Abhijita to victory in the Bigga Jamaica Oaks.“This year I plan to work even harder than I did last year, as I really want to win more Classic races. The confidence is there and all I need is the horse, and I will take it from there”, the 37-year-old insisted, with a look of determination on his face.Francis was particularly pleased to ride Commanding Chief trained by Everal Francis to victory in the Catherine’s Peak Gold Cup last month.“He is a great horse, he worked well coming into the race. He broke well and when I reached the half-mile, I felt I had a lot of horse and when I asked him to run he just laid out everything on the track, and it was how far we were going to win,” he fondly reminisced.“Once you ride with confidence and show dedication and carry out your hard work you can win races, but you need the support as well,” he said.“I have to thank the trainers and owners who believe in me and trust me to give me the rides each race day. Also my agent and the fans, as they are the ones that keep me going. They have supported me well and I am looking to please them this season by riding more winners,” a confident ‘Country’ Francis said. Paul ‘Country’ Francis interacts with the public in his usual style as he enters the race track for another race.View the original article here
HOPING FOR A BETTER YEAR IN THE SADDLE
