Hayley Turner on her retirement, comeback and the extraordinary confidence behind her Royal Ascot winner

Hayley Turner has won an awful lot of races in her career – approaching 1,000, in fact – but the trailblazing jockey says she has never been as confident about a horse winning as she was before subsequent Royal Ascot winner Docklands struck at the track in May. 

Speaking to Maddy Playle for the latest video in her series Maddy Meets, available to watch exclusively on the Racing Post YouTube channel now, the multiple Group 1-winning rider spoke of an audacious plan with the well-backed three-year-old, aiming to win by far enough to ensure he got a run in the Britannia the following month.

"When he got to Ascot, off his mark, I’ve never been so confident about a horse winning," she said of Harry Eustace's colt. "I just thought the handicapper has definitely got this wrong.

"I won by six lengths and he went up 14lb. I wanted to win by a distance so he would get into the race at Royal Ascot, but I was thinking, ‘Maybe I’ve overdone it now.' Connections were happy but 14lb is a lot."

Docklands was subsequently sent off 6-1 favourite for one of the most competitive handicaps at the royal meeting and did the business in magnificent style, prevailing by half a length despite being drawn on the wrong side.

"He’d shown so much improvement from that race and we’ve always thought he was a nice horse," added Turner. "The straight mile at Ascot was just perfect for him and the big field suited him. He made it easy for me. I knew the other horse was there on the other side and my horse basically stuck his neck out and battled when he had nothing to battle with, which shows how game he is."

Hayley Turner on Docklands after her latest Royal Ascot victoryCredit: Alex Pantling

As well as potential future plans for Docklands, Turner discussed her retirement in 2015 and subsequent comeback, being on the brink of a major landmark, how she has pushed for new weighing room facilities for women and the controversial new whip rules.

More Maddy Meets:

Kirsten Rausing: 'We are losing good horses - this is detrimental to the breed' 

Lydia Hislop: five-day Cheltenham Festival risks turning fans off the sport 

'The standard isn't good enough' - John Francome blasts modern-day jockeys 

'Some chap emailed me saying he'd won £60,000' | Maddy Playle meets Tom Segal 

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