Kaiya Fraser has success at Glorious Goodwood in his sights as he continues to go from strength to strength in the saddle. The 23-year-old recorded a hat-trick at Ascot over the weekend, taking his tally of winners to 32 for the season.
However, it wasn’t straight-forward, as he was bitten by a rival horse prior to the 3:02 on Saturday. Michael Bell’s Mr Twig was pulled out of the stalls and got loose, proceeding to bite Fraser’s thigh. Fraser dropped to the floor in some discomfort, but remarkably remounted the aptly named Dr Rascal to take the contest.
Speaking to the Press Association, via At The Races, Kaiya Fraser spoke about the incident: “Michael Bell’s horse was messing about in the stalls and they’ve pulled him out. But as they’ve pulled him out of the gates he’s got loose and run around. Then out of nowhere grabbed a hold of my thigh
“He didn’t give me a chance. My horse got a bit nervous after that and kind of ran off and he got loose. Michael Bell’s horse gave me a sore leg and it’s still a bit sore now. It was a crazy couple of minutes. But luckily we were able to get back in the stalls and go and win the race.”
The young jockey was half-a-length away from making it a successful four-from-four with his mounts at Ascot across the weekend. In the curtain closer, Luansobe found room a touch too late, not quite being able to reel in the leaders.
Nevertheless, Fraser remained in positive spirits as he said: “It’s always special to ride a winner at Ascot, let alone two and on a Saturday as well. I was delighted but I was going into the weekend knowing I had some great chances. Luckily I’ve had a great weekend and everyone is happy.”
Fraser looking forward to Adonius’ return at Goodwood
Kaiya Fraser continues to build some key connections, and discussed his season thus far: “It’s going well this season. I’ve got a lot of great connections thanks to my agent James Forrest and I’m getting put up on some nice horses
“Harry Eustace has been my boss for over three years now and I like to think we have a great relationship. I also have a great relationship with Rebecca Menzies who started using me when I was an apprentice. I ride the majority of hers.”
One of Menzies’ horses is Adonius, who is unbeaten in three contests this season. “I’m looking forward to Goodwood. It has always been one of the targets for Adonius, he’s very quick” said Fraser.
Fraser was highly complimentary of Oliver Cole’s Dr Rascal too, as he said: “I think after everything that happened you could see how much of a good mentality he has. Which is one of his main attributes.”