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Barbadian Jockey wowing the racing community in the UK

Barbadian Jockey wowing the racing community in the UK

article 1049042 026A13A500000578 27 468x286

I have never heard of Louis-Philippe Beuzelin, then again – I am no racing fanatic like Mike Goddard or Peter Thorne, but according to the Daily Mail’s Racing section, he’s a young Bajan out to earn his spurs –

His boss is Newmarket’s Calypso King Sir Michael Stoute, he boasts Kieren Fallon as his mentor and he has audaciously enlisted Ray Cochrane as his agent.

Louis-Philippe Beuzelin, a likable 17-year-old from the Caribbean, may just have all the ingredients in place to make a name for himself every bit as effectively as his idols Frankie Dettori and Fallon have done. Except that this new kid on the block wants to be better than both of them.

I am beginning to understand now why Machel Montano at the Oval the other day joked about seeing white people at the popular fete, the performer said it in much the same way the kid from “The Sixth Sense” said he sees dead people, the classic line was then altered to white people in “Scary Movie” and now re-used by the Soca star.

All of that for this; As far as I know, Bajans of all hues are accustomed to being aware of the following names from the white community – Goddard, Parravacino, Bayley, Corbin, Kelly, Bynoe, Clarke, Matthews, Tempro, Archer, Williams, Hoad among many others, and even those who say Bourne – but I think I spoiled that (via my Mom)… Why does the white community in Barbados feel the need for isolation? Anyway, Beuzelin sounds French, yet the Mail clearly states the lad is from Barbados. He’s also a pal of Johno Jones

Beuzelin was considering joining fellow Barbadian Jono Jones at Canada’s Woodbine racecourse before a fortuitous afternoon at Garrison Savannah track in Barbados earlier this year.

Stoute went home for a break to visit his brother, Richard, a car rental dealer who dabbles in horses.

Both men were at the local track to see one of Richard’s horses run and Beuzelin just happened to be aboard. It did no harm that Beuzelin’s father Jean-Louis, an accomplished owner-breeder, knew the Newmarket trainer well but the clincher to a brighter future in England for his son had more to do with the composure the teenager showed in landing The Sundance Kid for Richard on an unforgiving circular course.

A week later it was a done deal: Newmarket for Woodbine. He had been craving for a bigger stage to parade his talents, which had started to blossom after spending several weeks riding out in France for Robert Collet last September.

He then went about gaining as much experience as he could on other Caribbean tracks before arriving in England on June 14, sitting an O-levels exam – he studied two languages, and all three sciences – on the same day he flew out.

Glad to see he made sure to finish his studies so he has other skills in case his career may go south for one reason or another. Nevertheless, the young Bajan is striving for a whole lot more –

He is striving for the smoothness of Dettori’s style and the skill of Fallon. ‘I’m learning from both of them,’ he says before adding in the same breath, ‘but I want to be better than both.’

He has earned three winners from his 25 rides in Britain and the array of trainers who have used him include John Gosden, Saeed bin Suroor, Ralph Beckett, Simon Callaghan, Clive Brittain and Gerard Butler.

Before that first win (Spy Eye for Stoute at Newmarket on August 2 was his first ride in Britain) I used to be like a normal stable lad, just mucking out and riding canters,’ he said.

I got a little stressed because I am aiming to be the best, but now you can see he (Stoute) has more confidence in me.’

The gamble by Cochrane to take him on without having seen him ride looks like paying off.

He was a nice, well-mannered kid,’ said the former top jockey of the teenager who boldly approached him out of the blue. ‘But I think he can go a long way. When I tell him something he listens – and that’s rare for someone so young.’

Beuzelin is on the way to achieving the success that eluded his fellow countryman Jono Jones, when he came to try his luck at Newmarket.
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