THE progress made by star apprentice Isle of Arran jockey Nicola Currie in 2018 will carry her all the way to QIPCO British Champions Day after it was confirmed she will retain the ride on Raising Sand, a leading player in the Balmoral Handicap (sponsored by QIPCO) which closes the glittering card at Ascot on Saturday.

This one-mile event is open to all jockeys and boasts a giant £250,000 prize, making it the richest mile handicap in Europe. However, the Lambourn trainer Jamie Osborne feels Currie’s 3lb apprentices’ allowance, which she is close to losing by virtue of her success this season, could be invaluable after the combination tasted victory in the Bet With Ascot Challenge Cup at the same course last weekend.

“If that looks like happening, I’ll be putting the blockers on her because we might need that 3lb!” Osborne said.

“She’s ridden the horse twice and ridden him very well both times. He missed the cut last year and it was soft ground, so I was absolutely sick. Looking at that pot going away from us on soft ground was galling. I just hope this year we get the gods on our side.

“We were well aware that we probably needed to win last time in order to get the weight penalty in order to get into the Balmoral, but that race was also a great pot in itself. It would be a lovely end to his season if we could get our hands on the Balmoral.

Currie very much shares the trainer’s enthusiasm.

“To be riding big winners at Ascot is what it’s all about,” the 24-year-old said. It’s exciting to be going back there with a ride on QIPCO British Champions Day.

“Last time he bolted with me for about a furlong going to the start so I knew he was full of himself. Apart from that, it was straightforward enough. He’s not a hold-up horse but he also needs some cover as he can be keen. We almost hit the front too soon but it pretty much went to plan. I thought he’d be there or thereabouts and hopefully he will be again.”

It is a case of friends reunited with Osborne and Currie, with the Scottish-born rider having made such remarkable strides since moving to the yard of Richard Hughes in 2015.

“I was thinking of just going back to being a work-rider and hopefully earning some money so I could get into buying and selling horses.

“By chance, a guy I was renting a room off in the village heard that Richard Hughes was looking for riders as he had just moved to Lambourn. He said that he would give me a chance for three months and it’s just gone from there. I owe him a lot," added Nicola

With the help of agent Phil Shea, ambitious targets have been formulated.

“This year we wanted to be champion apprentice but perhaps we went the wrong way about it starting off. We were looking for the bigger, outside rides with the bigger trainers and maybe we would have been better off going to the smaller meetings for five or six rides and picking up a lot more winners. But Jason Watson has been absolutely amazing and it would have been very hard to beat him."

Currie is now perhaps one of the most famous exports of Arran.

“I certainly don’t think any other jockeys have come from there,” she said. “I was usually off the island in competitions when I was getting into horses. It’s great going back home - my parents aren’t into racing and my mum doesn’t understand when I’m venting about having given a horse a bad ride. She usually thinks I’ve given it a great ride!

“They are getting into it a bit more, they watch all my races, and my gran often goes down to the local pub where they always have it on now. They usually give me a bit of stick when I’m back, but it’s all good fun," she said.