At Haydock last weekend, the feature race may have been the Betfair Chase, but a new young riding talent shone on the undercard. Twenty-year-old Freddie Gordon rode a fantastic treble for his father, Hampshire-based handler Chris Gordon, including his first graded winner and the all-important 75th winner to ride out his claim.
The success began in the very first race, the Grade Two Newton Novices’ Hurdle, aboard Diamond Hunter, who had won by twenty-four lengths at Plumpton last month, “You don’t really know what’s underneath you”, Freddie explained about riding novice hurdlers, “The owner, who is a great friend of my dad, went there hoping he’d run a good race”. And that he did, winning cosily and giving Freddie his first graded success.
In the following race, the horse Freddie thought had the best chance of winning on the day, David’s Well, beat the favourite to win a competitive handicap chase, “That race went spot on, to be honest”, he explained, “I got a lovely lead in the race. What I felt was that I was on the best horse in the race because I’ve ridden him loads at home and schooled him plenty and, last year, I absolutely loved him. I thought he would probably be one of my dad’s best horses, but, sadly, he picked up an injury and he missed out the rest of the season after only running twice and winning twice over fences. Going into the race, I just rode him like he was the best horse and it worked out perfectly”.
With a double under his belt, in the next race, Freddie and Andashan found Dan Skelton’s Kabral du Mathan too good, but that was not a surprise to the rider, who, having ridden against the horse last year, thought he was “a bit of a machine”.
Then, it was down to their final runner, Electric Mason, to make it an incredible treble. “That was quite an unbelievable one”, Freddie said, the astonishment still clear in his voice four days on, “I didn’t think I’d won it, to be honest. I saw Sean Bowen on my outside and it’s usually that, if he’s upsides you, 90% of the time he has beaten you. I was quite in disbelief because in my career I haven’t won many big races and I’ve never won a grade two in my life and I don’t think any of the past handicaps I’ve won have been graded at all, so, after Electric Mason, I was in disbelief, having three big winners on a single day on a Saturday – amazing!”
Remarkably, Freddie has had four wins from five rides at Haydock, having won the valuable Swinton Handicap Hurdle in May. So, what is it about Haydock? “It’s a very fair track”, he explained, “A proper galloping track and the straights are very long. I think it is very similar to your Newburys and Kemptons and I’ve ridden around plenty of tracks like that, nice long straights, and I think those are nicer tracks to ride around because most of the time it is the best horse that wins. If you give them the right ride to win it, they usually will win it. I think when my dad sends horses up there, they’ve usually got a good chance”.
It was extra special to have the Haydock treble on three horses trained by his father, who is currently sitting just outside of the Top 10 in the British Trainers’ Championship, “It’s a family business and riding in big races in one of the best feelings you can have in racing, but, when it’s for your dad or mum, you can’t get a nicer feeling as it is just a proper joint family go. I can sort of speak for my dad here that, for any trainer, you always want, if you have children, your kids to ride and I’d say for a day like that it was just quite unbelievable. A day to remember!”
Being involved in horse racing wasn’t always what Freddie had in mind, “I never really had any interest until I was about twelve. I don’t know what it was, but, because my mum and dad trained, it was always racing, racing and going racing. My mum and dad didn’t have particularly the easiest start into it. I think they came to where they are now with only two or three horses and they were point-to-pointers. From there, they just slowly built up. Wherever they went racing, I was always having to go along with them because they couldn’t get the babysitter or anything, so I think a lot of the time I just got a bit sick of it to be honest. Until, I was in school one day and I went ‘When it comes to this intellectual stuff, I’m pretty useless so I ought to start riding’, as it is probably the best sort of way of making money in life that I can. Luckily, it turned out to be the best idea I had for a while and I’ve never looked back since”.
After leaving school, he spent a year with Paul Nicholls before joining Nicky Henderson two seasons ago, “I’ve had a brilliant time at Nicky Henderson’s and I still work full time and I’m going to stay full time there for the rest of the season as a professional. He has been very good to me. Last season, I had a few good days for him. I had a brilliant horse called East India Express”. The pair won at Ascot and Kempton before finishing seventh in the Martin Pipe at the Cheltenham Festival and winning at Cheltenham’s April meeting, “He has been a brilliant horse for me and I’m very grateful that Nicky has let me ride him”.
Looking to the future, riding in the good races at Haydock, Ascot, Kempton and Cheltenham seem to be high on Freddie’s agenda, but, despite his exploits this weekend, his feet seem firmly on the ground, “If I just keep my weight down, I can hopefully have a long and successful career. It does help when the old man trains because he gives me plenty of rides, which is just a massive boost and that is what carried me through my career, but, hopefully, if I can keep my weight down and my dad doesn’t pack up any time soon, I’ll just keep kicking!”
Father and son will be trying to keep the big race momentum going this Saturday with Annual Invictus in the Coral Gold Cup, previously known as the Hennessy, on Saturday, “He has got unbelievable form in the 2024 Whitbread [the bet365 Gold Cup] and he just got beaten a neck. That was very nearly a very, very, very special day, that one. He actually ended up beating Nick Rockett [2025 Grand National winner] by two lengths! Sadly, he got injured for a season, so the Hennessy is his first run for over a year. He should run a blinder in that. It’s probably one of the races of the year”.
Having already surpassed last season’s tally of winners and currently leading the Conditional Jockeys’ Championship, Freddie is definitely a jockey racing fans will be hearing a lot more about during the rest of the National Hunt season.
Samantha Martin speaking to Freddie Gordon for the Injured Jockeys Fund