Queally brings big-race experience from Europe to Golden Gate

Tom Queally has ridden a Breeders’ Cup winner as well as perhaps the 21st century’s best horse in the European star Frankel. But he’s still looking for his first victory at Golden Gate Fields.

Queally, a 33-year-old Irishman, has moved his tack across the Atlantic Ocean and the United States to the Bay Area, and is riding the fall meet at Golden Gate Fields. He intends to stay at Golden Gate at least through the winter.

“This wasn’t an overnight thought,” he said. “I’ve been working and thinking about it for some time.”

Queally has ridden only eight horses at the meet, but he’s hoping the mounts – and wins – will come as he proves himself to local horsemen.

“I working quite hard in the morning with a lot of breezers and to get a feel of the place,” he said. “That’s coming fairly quickly.

“I’m recording my rides and do reviews of them every evening to see if I’m putting horses in the right spots.”

Queally rode Frankel in all 14 of the horse’s starts, in a career that spanned 2010-12. Queally also won the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf with Midday and was the leading apprentice in the United Kingdom in 2004.

With the end of the 2017 flat-racing season in Great Britain this fall, Queally decided to ride in the United States. Queally said that as he was deciding where to settle, there were “two huge factors” that weighed in Golden Gate’s favor – the track does have plenty of turf racing, and its Tapeta main track was similar to the synthetic surfaces used in Great Britain.

“I had a lot of options, and I have spoken with many trainers,” he said. “There are very good trainers here, and I have been well received.”

Among the differences in riding in the United States and in Europe is that a bigger premium is placed on speed and early positioning here. Queally said he is making the adjustment and expects to have more success as the fall and winter wear on.

“It’s something new,” Queally said, “but I’ve ridden here at the highest levels and ridden in some big races in competitive places such as Japan and Hong Kong. It’s not that easy to get in those jurisdictions, but I’m adaptable. And I’m coming here in the prime of my career rather than the twilight.”