From Dubai to Redcar! Tom chases the title

GLOBETROTTING Tom Marquand has vowed to chase the jockeys’ championship again this season and he has star billing at Redcar’s competitive Easter Monday meeting.

- By PETER BARRON

Marquand has enjoyed a successful winter in Japan, followed by glamorous rides in Dubai and Australia, but it’s back to the championship grind with a drive north to Redcar for a strong book of rides.

“Being champion jockey is a goal very much at the forefront of my mind,” said Marquand on his return to the UK, having finished third in the title race last season.

He’s certainly bang in form, scoring a treble for William Haggas at last week’s prestigious Craven meeting at Newmarket, and it will be a surprise if he leaves the North East without a winner or two on Redcar’s eight-race card.

He kicks off for Haggas on newcomer Earthwatch, an 88,000 guinea yearling, in the opening racingtv. com Novice Stakes and it’s worth nothing that the Newmarket trainer had three entries in the race up until declarations on Saturday.

The market will be the best guide to Earthwatch’s chances, and the danger looks to be Roger Varian’s Jenubiyah, a December third at Kempton on her only start.