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Could someone with RP sub. post article on Laura Pearson by Jonathan Harding today pls?
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cant find an article re Laura Pearson,def today?
'I know now my career isn't life or death' - how personal tragedies shaped a new outlook for Laura Pearson
Jonathan Harding talks to one of the rising stars of the weighing room
author image
Jonathan Harding
Reporter
Laura Pearson: "It was the next stepping stone I was hoping to take, now I've lost my claim, and it's nice to be able to do it for Mr Beckett."
Laura Pearson: has faced serious challenges on and off the track
Credit: Alan Crowhurst
The first book Laura Pearson learned to read in English was Frankie Dettori's autobiography.
The aspiring rider had recently returned to Britain from France at the age of ten when she stumbled across the book, which charts the fascinating but turbulent life story of the world's most recognisable jockey.
Now 22, Pearson has experienced her own share of the peaks and troughs of her profession. It would be easy to believe her rapid journey from promising apprentice to Royal Ascot winner has been seamless.
But that could not be further from the truth. Last year, Pearson suffered a significant neck injury that kept her off the track for six months – yet her spell on the sidelines came as a relief as she grappled with challenges off the track following the loss of her father to cancer and her partner to a brain tumour in the previous two years.
When we catch up at Kempton, it quickly becomes clear she possesses a maturity beyond her years, and she speaks candidly about the personal tragedies and setbacks that have shaped her new outlook on life.
"My dad was an old-school horseman and a huge influence on me and my career," she says. "He was diagnosed with cancer in March 2020 and passed away two months later. That gave me a hard knock and the best way I could deal with that was to throw everything into my work. I'm not sure if that's the healthy way of dealing with loss but it benefited my career. It cleared up what I wanted to do and it might sound corny but every winner now is for him."
It seems Pearson has always had a singular focus. As the daughter of a point-to-point trainer with a competitive streak, she was set on a career as a jockey from the age of 15. In her first years in the saddle, she preferred being in the gym like a "little hermit" to going out and socialising, and she was rewarded when she won on just her second ride in 2018. A master in self-deprecation, Pearson describes herself as being a "complete passenger".
Laura Pearson is congratulated after winning the Kensington Palace Stakes on Lola Showgirl
Laura Pearson is congratulated after winning the Kensington Palace Stakes on Lola Showgirl
Credit: Edward Whitaker
The jockey believes she was not sharp or strong enough at 18 but that was definitely not the case in 2021, when she rapidly ate away at her claim with 42 winners. There is no need to ask which of those stood out. Pearson won on her first ride at Royal Ascot to become the fourth and youngest female jockey to score at the meeting. Still a 5lb claimer, she landed the Kensington Palace Stakes aboard Lola Showgirl for her biggest supporter Dave Loughnane.
"It was an incredible experience but I probably didn't take it in as much as I should have," she says. "I appreciated it for a day or two and then got in a grump as I only had two rides the following day. I wish I could go back and hit myself a bit. I remember before we headed down to post, Dave looked at me and said, 'This is for you, not because you claim five'. It was the perfect confidence boost. I got down to the start thinking I was the best of the best."
And was there more pressure after that winner, real or imagined? "It made me think there was more pressure from the outside, which there wasn't," she adds. "Internally, I definitely put myself under more pressure. My first thought after leaving the winner's enclosure was I needed two winners next year. I ended up not riding at the meeting last season so I spent the week sulking. That's something I've had to learn to cope with, otherwise it would eat me alive."
Pearson has also had to learn to cope with injury. Not one for half-measures, she fractured her C7 vertebra after being unseated at Epsom in July 2022. One would assume six months on the sidelines would come as a major blow and Pearson admits she did at times fight against the recovery process, but there were positives too. She is wary of this becoming a "feel sorry for me" show but proceeds to explain why some time off was a blessing.
"I've got a slightly different insight on it now," she says. "While I was off I studied a course in sports psychology, mainly just for me. As horrible as the fall was, I think I needed the time to sort my head out. I was almost still that 16-year-old kid running and chasing the dream. I was getting frustrated with the way I was riding and the opportunities, and if it wasn't for Dave and how much he and his team had put into my career, I probably would have packed up.
"I wasn't in a great place after my other half had died the previous September due to a brain tumour. I've not really talked about it, but that set me back a lot and I probably wasn't quite right after that. It felt like I was chasing my tail until I had that fall and could finally deal with it all properly. The injury forced me to take a step back, breathe and think more about life and the little things, rather than just going day to day in the car up and down the motorway."
Laura Pearson: Successful on her first ride in Germany
Laura Pearson: has bounced back from injury this season
Credit: Bryn Lennon
As we sat down to talk, Pearson was concerned she might not be that interesting an interview subject. That is certainly not the case. She is refreshingly open, a characteristic she says is shared by many of the young jockeys in the weighing room. A far cry from what she describes as the dated caricature of riders as "old-fashioned, unhealthy, skinny and smoking", Pearson understands that the mental side of being an athlete is just as vital as the physical.
"The first few months of my recovery were not good until I copped on and realised it was what I had to deal with," she says. "I needed to move forward and not just have a temper tantrum, but it was a frustrating process."
Moving forward was harder than expected. Her neck healed fairly quickly but the knock-on effect of her concussion meant she was only able to make her return in January. Then there was another stumbling block. Racing can be a fickle game; one minute a jockey is hot property, the next they have fallen out of favour. Connections have to look for alternatives when someone is injured and working your way back into the frame can often prove difficult.
Pearson was just beginning to get rolling before her accident but struggled to build momentum after it. Between January and the end of April, she had just two winners from 47 rides. "If it wasn't for [the Loughnane] team I probably wouldn't have got here again," she says. "Pretty much all of my rides were for them before I started having a few more winners for other people again. That's the game and we all know it happens, which is why we all look for loyal connections."
As the turf season warmed up, her fortunes steadily improved. Pearson rode out her claim in July and recorded six winners the following month, her best return since July 2021. Then a link with Ralph Beckett – forged because, in her words, she is a "bit of a geek" who enjoys riding out every day – when he booked her for a winning ride aboard Diamond Vega at Baden-Baden this month, her first success at Listed level.
"I rode two winners at the Ribot Cup in 2022 and I'm never going back to Italy to preserve my 100 per cent strike-rate," she jokes. "I've not yet lost abroad if anybody wants to put me on their runners. It was an incredible opportunity to ride in Germany this month. Every jockey needs a stepping stone, especially after losing their claim, and it has definitely made people think of me a bit more."
With that in mind, Pearson's hopes for the immediate future are to keep building her contacts and she is likely to ride on the all-weather this winter, rather than seek to improve her overseas record.
By her own admission, Pearson has not always been as grounded as she is now. Her approach to her work has understandably shifted as the ground has moved beneath her. So is she able to enjoy it more now, having come close to calling it a day?
"I am, and the hard days don't hit me as much as they used to," she reflects. "I don't get frustrated. I've had to have a change in mentality. My career used to be everything and it's still very important to me but it's not life or death. I'd always had a mentality since I was a kid that if you're not the best at something, give up, and I nearly fell into that hole about three times before I had my fall. Now I know that you can't go through your life thinking like that."
Jonathan Harding talks to one of the rising stars of the weighing room
author image
Jonathan Harding
Reporter
Laura Pearson: "It was the next stepping stone I was hoping to take, now I've lost my claim, and it's nice to be able to do it for Mr Beckett."
Laura Pearson: has faced serious challenges on and off the track
Credit: Alan Crowhurst
The first book Laura Pearson learned to read in English was Frankie Dettori's autobiography.
The aspiring rider had recently returned to Britain from France at the age of ten when she stumbled across the book, which charts the fascinating but turbulent life story of the world's most recognisable jockey.
Now 22, Pearson has experienced her own share of the peaks and troughs of her profession. It would be easy to believe her rapid journey from promising apprentice to Royal Ascot winner has been seamless.
But that could not be further from the truth. Last year, Pearson suffered a significant neck injury that kept her off the track for six months – yet her spell on the sidelines came as a relief as she grappled with challenges off the track following the loss of her father to cancer and her partner to a brain tumour in the previous two years.
When we catch up at Kempton, it quickly becomes clear she possesses a maturity beyond her years, and she speaks candidly about the personal tragedies and setbacks that have shaped her new outlook on life.
"My dad was an old-school horseman and a huge influence on me and my career," she says. "He was diagnosed with cancer in March 2020 and passed away two months later. That gave me a hard knock and the best way I could deal with that was to throw everything into my work. I'm not sure if that's the healthy way of dealing with loss but it benefited my career. It cleared up what I wanted to do and it might sound corny but every winner now is for him."
It seems Pearson has always had a singular focus. As the daughter of a point-to-point trainer with a competitive streak, she was set on a career as a jockey from the age of 15. In her first years in the saddle, she preferred being in the gym like a "little hermit" to going out and socialising, and she was rewarded when she won on just her second ride in 2018. A master in self-deprecation, Pearson describes herself as being a "complete passenger".
Laura Pearson is congratulated after winning the Kensington Palace Stakes on Lola Showgirl
Laura Pearson is congratulated after winning the Kensington Palace Stakes on Lola Showgirl
Credit: Edward Whitaker
The jockey believes she was not sharp or strong enough at 18 but that was definitely not the case in 2021, when she rapidly ate away at her claim with 42 winners. There is no need to ask which of those stood out. Pearson won on her first ride at Royal Ascot to become the fourth and youngest female jockey to score at the meeting. Still a 5lb claimer, she landed the Kensington Palace Stakes aboard Lola Showgirl for her biggest supporter Dave Loughnane.
"It was an incredible experience but I probably didn't take it in as much as I should have," she says. "I appreciated it for a day or two and then got in a grump as I only had two rides the following day. I wish I could go back and hit myself a bit. I remember before we headed down to post, Dave looked at me and said, 'This is for you, not because you claim five'. It was the perfect confidence boost. I got down to the start thinking I was the best of the best."
And was there more pressure after that winner, real or imagined? "It made me think there was more pressure from the outside, which there wasn't," she adds. "Internally, I definitely put myself under more pressure. My first thought after leaving the winner's enclosure was I needed two winners next year. I ended up not riding at the meeting last season so I spent the week sulking. That's something I've had to learn to cope with, otherwise it would eat me alive."
Pearson has also had to learn to cope with injury. Not one for half-measures, she fractured her C7 vertebra after being unseated at Epsom in July 2022. One would assume six months on the sidelines would come as a major blow and Pearson admits she did at times fight against the recovery process, but there were positives too. She is wary of this becoming a "feel sorry for me" show but proceeds to explain why some time off was a blessing.
"I've got a slightly different insight on it now," she says. "While I was off I studied a course in sports psychology, mainly just for me. As horrible as the fall was, I think I needed the time to sort my head out. I was almost still that 16-year-old kid running and chasing the dream. I was getting frustrated with the way I was riding and the opportunities, and if it wasn't for Dave and how much he and his team had put into my career, I probably would have packed up.
"I wasn't in a great place after my other half had died the previous September due to a brain tumour. I've not really talked about it, but that set me back a lot and I probably wasn't quite right after that. It felt like I was chasing my tail until I had that fall and could finally deal with it all properly. The injury forced me to take a step back, breathe and think more about life and the little things, rather than just going day to day in the car up and down the motorway."
Laura Pearson: Successful on her first ride in Germany
Laura Pearson: has bounced back from injury this season
Credit: Bryn Lennon
As we sat down to talk, Pearson was concerned she might not be that interesting an interview subject. That is certainly not the case. She is refreshingly open, a characteristic she says is shared by many of the young jockeys in the weighing room. A far cry from what she describes as the dated caricature of riders as "old-fashioned, unhealthy, skinny and smoking", Pearson understands that the mental side of being an athlete is just as vital as the physical.
"The first few months of my recovery were not good until I copped on and realised it was what I had to deal with," she says. "I needed to move forward and not just have a temper tantrum, but it was a frustrating process."
Moving forward was harder than expected. Her neck healed fairly quickly but the knock-on effect of her concussion meant she was only able to make her return in January. Then there was another stumbling block. Racing can be a fickle game; one minute a jockey is hot property, the next they have fallen out of favour. Connections have to look for alternatives when someone is injured and working your way back into the frame can often prove difficult.
Pearson was just beginning to get rolling before her accident but struggled to build momentum after it. Between January and the end of April, she had just two winners from 47 rides. "If it wasn't for [the Loughnane] team I probably wouldn't have got here again," she says. "Pretty much all of my rides were for them before I started having a few more winners for other people again. That's the game and we all know it happens, which is why we all look for loyal connections."
As the turf season warmed up, her fortunes steadily improved. Pearson rode out her claim in July and recorded six winners the following month, her best return since July 2021. Then a link with Ralph Beckett – forged because, in her words, she is a "bit of a geek" who enjoys riding out every day – when he booked her for a winning ride aboard Diamond Vega at Baden-Baden this month, her first success at Listed level.
"I rode two winners at the Ribot Cup in 2022 and I'm never going back to Italy to preserve my 100 per cent strike-rate," she jokes. "I've not yet lost abroad if anybody wants to put me on their runners. It was an incredible opportunity to ride in Germany this month. Every jockey needs a stepping stone, especially after losing their claim, and it has definitely made people think of me a bit more."
With that in mind, Pearson's hopes for the immediate future are to keep building her contacts and she is likely to ride on the all-weather this winter, rather than seek to improve her overseas record.
By her own admission, Pearson has not always been as grounded as she is now. Her approach to her work has understandably shifted as the ground has moved beneath her. So is she able to enjoy it more now, having come close to calling it a day?
"I am, and the hard days don't hit me as much as they used to," she reflects. "I don't get frustrated. I've had to have a change in mentality. My career used to be everything and it's still very important to me but it's not life or death. I'd always had a mentality since I was a kid that if you're not the best at something, give up, and I nearly fell into that hole about three times before I had my fall. Now I know that you can't go through your life thinking like that."
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