OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Katie Davis had a few items on her bucket list when she decided to follow her father and become a jockey.
One was to win a race at Saratoga. She checked that off the list last summer when she won seven at the Spa, including wins on three consecutive days.
A second wish-list item was riding internationally. Friday, Davis will check that box when she competes in the International Jockey Challenge at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Saudi Arabia. The event is held the night before the $20 million Saudi Cup.
The challenge features seven female riders and seven male riders from around the world competing in a quartet of races, each with a $400,000 purse. Jockeys, who get their mounts assigned randomly, earn points for their finishing position in each race. Prize money is awarded to the top four point-earners: $30,000 for 1st, $20,000 for second, $10,000 for third, and $5,000 for fourth. Riders finishing fifth through 14th each get $3,500. That’s separate from purse money won in the individual four races.
“I’ve always said before I retire – not saying I’m retiring anytime soon – it’s always been on my bucket list to ride out of the country,” Davis said. It didn’t matter where, it’s always been my dream.”
Davis, 31, did not ride for 16 months between May 2021 and Sept. 2022 as she was on maternity leave for the birth of her and husband Trevor McCarthy’s son Riley. She rode two winners in the fall of 2022 and 28 winners in 2023, including Funny How in the Broadway Stakes, her first New York stakes success.
“Her initial motivation to come back was just to prove that she could still ride, and not only do it but do it at a high level,” Joey Migliore, Katie’s agent, said. “A trip like this to compete on an international stage against world-class riders is more than she or I could have expected.”
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Davis is taking her father with her to Saudi Arabia. It was Robbie Davis who wouldn’t let Katie quit after she was struggling following the loss of her apprentice status in 2017.
“He kicked my ass and said, here’s five-grand, keep going,” Davis said. “I was down in the dumps; my agent at the time told me you’ll never make it, just be an exercise rider. My whole life has been proving people wrong, just for myself . . . ‘Well, you don’t believe I can do that, watch me.’ ”
Said Robbie Davis: “I’m just pumped for her, it’s so exciting. She’s come so far.”
In this international competition, Katie Davis will be competing against, among others, U.S.-based Luis Saez, England champion jockey Ryan Moore, French champion jockey Maxime Guyon, Japan’s Ryusei Sakai, and three-time Melbourne Cup-winner Damien Oliver. The other female riders are Maryline Eon, France’s champion female rider of 2016, New Zealand’s Lisa Allpress, and Sydney-based Alysha Collet.
“It’s fun riding with good guys, they teach you,” Davis said. “Like I told my agent and Trevor, if I got horse, they’ve got to watch out for me too.”
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