Tom Scudamore celebrates on Thistlecrack
Tom Scudamore celebrates on Thistlecrack

Tom Scudamore on being a jockey at Christmas, rider safety and mental health


Oli Bell joins Tom Scudamore to talk about mental health as a jockey, the busy Christmas schedule and a look back over some of his most cherished moments.

Scudamore followed in his grandfather and father's footprints into the weighing room and reflects on his achievements with a candid sense of unfulfillment.

He also touches on picking the wrong horses to ride in certain races, how jockeys deal with defeat and what motivates him as a man and a professional.

"If I do have a disappointment I try and park it," he says.

"The worst ones I find are when you've ridden a horse in the past and, for whatever reason, somebody has dispensed with your services or they didn't want you for that race, and maybe you've ended up riding something else, they're the ones that I find really hard. You just want to be in a dark corner.

"If you lose a race you should have won you might be cross with yourself and it might take a bit of time to get over it, but at the same time you have got to be responsible for your own actions.

"If you've made a mistake and something's gone wrong, you just can't allow that to take over. It's a case of having to park it and park the negative thoughts. It's the same with success as if you're too busy thinking 'wasn't that brilliant' after winning a big race last week, and you're still thinking about that a week later, then the disappointments are going to stay with you as well.

"So I try and do the same thing (either way). Whether the people around me will say I do that well, I don't know, but that's the way I try and work it."

Enjoy the fascinating video in full below...


Tom Scudamore & Oli bell - An honest conversation

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