A JOCKEY who was destined for the very top has retired aged just 20 and admitted: I wasn’t making any money.
Oakley Brown hit the big time when winning the Ayr Bronze Cup as a 16-year-old phenomenon in 2018.
Big moment for 7lb claimer @OakleyBrown7 as he lands the William Hill Ayr Bronze Cup on Richard Fahey's Lucky Lucky Man
Results
https://t.co/7iJOPsdIyZ pic.twitter.com/sLCuSgeMQ3— Racing TV (@RacingTV) September 21, 2018
Brown was destined for the very top as a jockey but has retired aged just 20
Interviewed at the time he grinned when quizzed on the winning the Gold Cup – one of the big handicap sprints of the season – in the coming years.
But just four seasons on he has decided to hang up his saddle and leave the sport altogether.
Brown said struggles with his weight, injuries and financial worries all contributed to his decision.
A horse fell on top of him at Hexham last year, resulting in several broken ribs and a shattered wrist.
Brown told the Racing Post: “I’ve loved my time in racing but it’s not for me any more.
“I’ve had a few injuries in the last year and I stopped getting rides.
“I wasn’t making money, I was riding only once every two weeks, and I fell out of love with it. I didn’t want to go racing any more.
“I’m off travelling to Australia for six months and then America for another six.
“And I’ll probably take over my dad’s business when he retires, he has a renewable energy company.
“But I’m only 20, I’m still young and I’ll see what I want to do.”
Brown said his Ayr Bronze Cup victory aboard Lucky Lucky Man – a horse owned by his dad’s best mates – was his career highlight.
That came four years ago but the intervening years had not been kind to Brown and he admitted that win ‘felt like a lifetime ago’.
Brown made a switch to jumps and got a gig picking up rides for Joseph O’Brien.
But the son of Ballydoyle supremo Aidan has since made more of a move to the Flat and Brown found rides drying up.
He returned to Britain but found he struggled living the strict life of a jockey and decided that also contributed to his retirement.
He added: “A horse landed on top of me at Hexham.
“That knocked me out all summer and I put on a lot of weight. I came back and had a pretty good spell, but I had a few more bad falls and kicks and they don’t half make you think.
“I love racing and I always wanted to be a jockey but I couldn’t live how I was.
“My weight wasn’t great towards the end and I had an awful diet. As much as I loved it, I wasn’t enjoying it any more.”