Breeders’ Cup: Doyle family looking to make impact

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A Breeders’ Cup billed as a homecoming event will have a special shine for British-born jockey Sophie Doyle. Not only will she be riding her first Breeders’ Cup in her adopted home state of Kentucky aboard Filly and Mare Sprint contender Fioretti, but her younger brother James Doyle will have a mount aboard Birchwood in the Juvenile Turf. And their mother, former trainer Jacqueline Doyle, plans to fly in.

“Amazing,” Sophie Doyle said.

Sophie Doyle, 29, was a top female apprentice in Britain in 2010, but with her mounts dwindling, she moved her tack to the U.S. two years later in search of new opportunities. She has put more than 25,000 miles on her car this year in that pursuit, several times this fall riding the Kentucky circuit by day and Indiana Grand by night. It has paid off with a career year, with 62 wins from 618 races and purse earnings of $1,354,366 through Sunday.

Earlier this year, Doyle was introduced to trainer Anthony Hamilton Jr., who invited her to work with his 5-year-old mare Fioretti. Doyle and Fioretti finished fifth in the Unbridled Sidney Stakes at Churchill Downs before winning the Roxelana Stakes there and running second in the Grade 3 Groupie Doll Stakes at Ellis Park.

“From the first time I breezed her, Anthony told me to be careful because she’s really strong, and you have to find a way to relax her,” Doyle said. “I straightaway found that you have to not pull on her too much and find that happy medium where she’s happy and you’re happy. She breezed really nicely, and Anthony said she had never been like that with someone before. I told him I really liked her and that she could keep moving up, and that’s what she’s done. She’s improved every time.”

On Oct. 3 at Breeders’ Cup host track Keeneland, Doyle and Fioretti each registered a first graded stakes victory, winning the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes over reigning divisional champion Judy the Beauty.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” Doyle said. “It was so nice after all the work I had been doing, all the early mornings of getting up every single day.”

Meanwhile, brother James, 27, has seen his star steadily ascend while working as a stable rider for the likes of Roger Charlton and the Juddmonte operation, piloting Group 1 winners Al Kazeem and Kingman. He now is a contract rider for Godolphin, for whom he rode classic winner Night of Thunder this year. More recently, he has picked up the mount on Group 2 winner Birchwood, who finished third to European star juvenile Air Force Blue in the Group 1 National Stakes.

Sibling jockeys have never won Breeders’ Cup races, although trainer-and-jockey siblings – such as Steve and Cash Asmussen and Keith and Kent Desormeaux – have won at the Breeders’ Cup. Sophie Doyle would also be just the third woman to ride a Breeders’ Cup winner, joining Julie Krone and Rosie Napravnik.