Harry Bentley: Spicy Marg was ‘push button’ in recent work

It’s lovely to have a bit of off time from racing in Hong Kong to recharge the batteries, but I’ve been given the massive opportunity of riding SPICY MARG in the Nunthorpe on Friday. It was a no brainer to agree to do so, it meant I had to cut my holiday a bit short but it’s a fantastic opportunity in a big race and I’m thrilled to be taking part.

It was definitely a bit of luck on my part, I was at Glorious Goodwood when Spicy Marg won, and I just happened to walk past Michael Bell and Emma Banks when they were celebrating her win, and we had a catch up. Michael contacted me a few days later to say that if they were to supplement her, if I could do the weight, would I be interested in riding her. I was in the right place at the right time but it’s a great ride to pick up!

In Hong Kong I do ride quite light. I ride as low as eight-stone three pounds quite regularly. Things have changed slightly in the UK since Covid, where jockeys now get a four-pound allowance for their equipment so I could be eight-stone and two pounds and still do the weight. It’s quite routine for me, the only difference is that I have been on holiday, but my weight is good and I’m lucky that I never balloon in the off time. If we win on Friday, an Indian will be the celebratory takeaway of choice!

I think supplementing Spicy Marg is an inspired move. The sprinting division doesn’t look the deepest and she’s a progressive two-year-old that’s done nothing wrong. Coming out of her win at Goodwood, the time was really fast and she looks worth a crack at the Nunthorpe.

It is a while ago since a two-year-old won this race but if you looked how many have run in the race, it isn’t all too many. It absolutely can be done; she will be carrying a very low weight and it’s worth a go. There’s no standout sprinter that you could hang your hat on, and I think it’s a great opportunity.

I did a pretty routine piece of work aboard Spicy Marg, Michael made it clear that she was extremely fit and it was just a tick-over gallop more than anything. We did a five-furlong piece of work on the July Course and it was nice to gallop her on that track, where she has run before. 

She gave me all the right feels that you would want to get going into a race like this. She was quite ‘push button’ when I wanted her to go and join the lead horse and I was extremely happy with the way she finished up. I have to say my take outs were all very positive and she gave me the feel of a really nice horse.

From what I’ve seen and heard, I wouldn’t be worried about her failing to handle the occasion at all. With most two-year-olds you’d have a lingering concern that they might blow their lid a bit and let the occasion get to them, but she seems really quiet. Having spoken to Kieran Shoemark, he says the same, even on her first run, she ran very straight and true and nothing seemed to phase her.

She seemed to handle the occasion at Goodwood well last time. This is five furlongs and a Group 1, so they’re going to go fast. I’m not worried about her doing too much in any part of the race and I think she’s going to handle occasion really well.

It’s hard to summarise the level of passion, enthusiasm and love for racing that the Hong Kong fans have. It’s actually a big part of people’s lives. That might sound quite extreme, but in Hong Kong racing really lights up the city.

When there’s no racing in Hong Kong, all eyes are looking for where else has got top racing on. They love their international racing and with York being the feature this week, it’s certainly something they’ll be tuning into. It’s great for me as well, not having ridden the last few weeks and just being out of the racing loop in Hong Kong, it’s good for people to see me back aboard on such a big occasion and in such a big race. 

It's great for my personal profile, but it’s also great for British racing that you’ve got all the international eyes watching. Hong Kong is a small place, but there’s an awful lot of people there, and an awful lot of racing fans, so there’ll certainly be a lot of support coming from there.