Colin Keane

Tamfana breaks smartly and is quickly into her racing rhythm. Stall six of six, all your rivals to your right. Colin Keane has a look across and sees Sam James going forward in the Newtown Anner Stud colours on Darnation, and he slots across. Perfect, a half a length, three parts of a length behind the leader, his filly nicely settled at a moderate pace, no stronger, and four of his five rivals behind.

The Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket, one of the premier Group 1 fillies’ races on the British racing calendar, and they’re zipping along at 35 or 36 miles per hour. Colin Keane had never sat on Tamfana before he was legged up on her in Newmarket’s parade ring 15 minutes earlier, but he had watched the filly from afar. She was unlucky in the 1000 Guineas in May, but she proved that day that she could operate on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile. Third in the French Oaks over 10 and a half furlongs, fourth in the Grand Prix de Paris over 12, she dropped down to a mile and dropped down in grade and won the Atalanta Stakes at Sandown. She deserved another shot at a Group 1 prize.

And he had done his homework. There might not be that much pace on early, Darnation is the likely leader. If he could slot in behind her, he could go from there.

“Ruaidhrí (Tierney, agent) called during the week,” says Colin Keane now in reflective mood. “He said that Oisín Murphy had to ride See The Fire for Andrew Balding in the Sun Chariot Stakes, and asked if we would be interested in riding Tamfana. Ger (Lyons, boss) didn’t have anything at The Curragh on Saturday, so we were free to go to Newmarket.”

He had never ridden for Tamfana’s trainer David Menuisier before, he didn’t know him at all, he was meeting him for the first time on Saturday. So it is significant that Ireland’s champion jockey was at the top of the trainer’s wishlist.

Once the Tamfana ride was confirmed, his agent was able to book other rides for him at Newmarket on the day. It’s not easy, going to a different jurisdiction and getting to ride horses that are usually ridden by other jockeys. Keane plays down the significance of it.

“We were lucky that it was Arc de Triomphe weekend,” he says. “That a lot of the top riders were at Longchamp.”

But a lot of the top riders were at Newmarket too, and you can be sure that Ruaidhrí Tierney was pushing open doors all over the place. He was able to book five rides for his jockey at Newmarket on the day for five different trainers and five different owners.

Past the four-furlong pole and Tamfana is still travelling well, up on the outside of Darnation, Colin Keane motionless on her back. Past the three-furlong marker and the leader’s rider starts to get more animated, but still Keane sits. Tamfana eases into the lead, and her rider can hear the pursuers. He squeezes a little as the two-furlong marker flashes past, and Tamfana picks up as they race into the Dip.

You wonder why it has taken so long, but it seems that Ireland’s perennial champion has been gaining traction in Britain of late. He doesn't set out to be champion every year. His goal used to be to beat his previous season’s tally, and he achieved that goal every year from the year that he started riding in 2010 up to and including 2017. That year, he rode 100 winners in a season for the first time, and wrested the championship from the clutches of the late and greatly lamented Pat Smullen, with whom he shares many characteristics. He majors in simplicity and efficiency. Why complicate things when you don’t need to? He rides every horse to maximise his chance of winning, and you rarely see him in the wrong place in a race.

Keane rendered his perennial goal pretty much impossible to sustain in 2021, when he rode a record 141 winners. The greatest tally ever achieved by any rider before that in an Irish flat racing season was 126, achieved by Joseph O’Brien in 2013. A total of 141 may not be equalled by any rider for a very long time. Now, the annual goal is 100 winners.

“If you ride 100 winners in a season, you should be there or thereabouts in the championship.”

Sure enough, only once has a jockey ridden 100 winners or more in an Irish flat racing season (Colin Keane, 103 winners in 2019, finished second to Donnacha O’Brien) and not been champion.

As well as his excellence in the saddle, there is that work ethic. Last Friday night, on the evening before he rode Tamfana to win the Sun Chariot Stakes, Colin Keane rode Tough Talk to win the 8.15 at Dundalk for his boss Ger Lyons. The day after the Sun Chariot, on the Sunday, he was at Tipperary to win the Listed Concorde Stakes on Power Under Me. The day after that, last Monday, he rode a treble at Killarney. A double at Dundalk on Friday evening took his tally for the Irish flat racing season to 99.

Colin Keane has had 65 rides in the last two weeks, with just one day during that time on which he wasn’t race-riding. He had six rides at Naas yesterday, he has seven rides at Naas today. And he rides out in the mornings. If he is not in with the boss, he is in Noel Meade’s, or he is in with his dad, helping him out.

Before Saturday, he had ridden Group or Grade 1 winners in Ireland, France, Italy and America. Now he can add Britain to that list.

Past the furlong marker, and Tamfana hits top gear. They meet the rising ground, and her rider asks her for all that she has. The filly stretches her neck out willingly and comes away from her rivals, and she hits the winning line, two lengths clear of her closest pursuer. Colin Keane eases her down, slows to a trot, then a walk. Gives his filly a pat on the neck. Landmark day.

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