Will Jack Cleary Clinch the Apprentice Jockey Title This Year? Jack Cleary is in “flying” form and is well placed to make a bid for the Apprentice Jockey’s Title, according to Paddy Flood. irishracing.com’s Irish Angle show this week discussed the title race after Jack Cleary claimed four winners on his 22nd birthday at Leopardstown on Saturday. All four were for Aidan O’Brien who claimed a six-timer at the meeting. Cleary is now just one win behind joint-leaders Wayne Hassett and Robert Whearty with the race look set to go down to the wire. Cleary A Man On The Up “Jack is flying,” Flood said after he was asked for his assessment of Cleary. “I was watching him closely at the weekend, and I think he was second in the last race too, so he wasn’t far off a fifth timer. Only Dylan Browne McMonagle beat him on the line. “He’s definitely in with a shout, and he’s definitely a chap that’s going forward. “He’s going to improve a hell of a lot, and he’s got a good man in Aidan looking after him — but his Dad wasn’t too bad with horses either, you know. Mickey was a good old character. “It’s a good apprentice title race this year — some really, really good young lads coming strong. “It’s rare for Aidan to be using them [apprentice jockeys], and Ryan’s [Moore] injury has just fallen perfect [for Cleary]. “He’s a lovely style. He’s not that small of a chap, so I’d say he has to do a little bit of work to keep himself nice and neat, but he’s strong — good and strong in a drive — and that’ll stand to him. “As he gets stronger and develops, it’s hard to teach someone to really get down and gritty with a horse, and he’s doing that already. He’ll only get better.” Ballydoyle Experience Can Only Help irishracing.com editor Vincent Finegan asked whether his experience at Ballydoyle will help or would be better served by learning the ropes on lesser quality horses. But Flood was insistent that Cleary is in the right place. He explained: “If you gave me my time back and said, ‘You can go into Willie Mullins and ride them,’ yeah, you’d take it. “He’s riding out probably with fifty ex-jockeys down there who were superstars in their own right. “So every morning he goes to work, he’s learning from the very best — and then Aidan’s touch on top of that. “He’s learning how to ride horses properly. You can get bad habits riding bad horses. If you’re kicking around jump races in Kilbeggan on a horse that doesn’t jump well, isn’t fit, doesn’t like hard ground, and they’re running him because he’s no good — you’ll soon learn how to pull back and start to get weary. “Whereas Jack’s getting up on proper, nice horses every morning and doing things right. “That builds your confidence a lot quicker, doing it on good horses the right way.” Title Race Could Not Be Tighter Racing journalist Johnny Ward admitted he wanted Wesley Joyce to claim the title after his remarkable comeback from a life-threatening injury at Galway in 2022. He said: “It’s an amazing race. Just looking at the stats — Robert Whearty and Wayne Hassett are level as of now. “And I was looking at this because I’m kind of willing Wesley Joyce to win it. As much as they’re all great lads, I’d love Wesley to win it — after the near-death experience he had in Galway. “Wesley’s two off, but I sort of had it down as a three-horse race, with Sam Coen and Nicola Burns — good stories, but maybe just falling short this year. “James Ryan, the champion, is back in seventh, which shows how tough it’s been this season. “And all of a sudden Jack’s one off — so now you wonder, does Aidan think, ‘Yeah, we can give this lad a good go’? “He speaks very well too and has his head screwed on. “Working for Ballydoyle is an intense job, but it doesn’t seem to have gotten to his head. “This is an amazing title race — it’s going right down to the wire. “It’s going to be fascinating. I can’t get over how tight it is at the top.” Watch The Irish Angle In Full: Or Listen On Spotify:
