Journeyman jockey to big-race favourite: Richard Mullen chasing World Cup dream

During a career in Britain spanning 20 years, Richard Mullen never once passed the £500,000 prize-money mark. On Saturday he prepares to ride the favourite for the $12 million Dubai World Cup.

Unsurprisingly the rider does not regret his decision to leave Britain, where he was a self-confessed 'journeyman jockey', to team up permanently with Satish Seemar, trainer of North America, the powerful front-runner Mullen hopes will deliver a dream result – as well as a financial windfall.

"I've never shied away from saying the Dubai World Cup is the one race I want to win, even over the Derby, because this is home for me," says Mullen, who is approaching his 43rd birthday but "feels like 23" after being reinvigorated by moving abroad full-time in 2012.

Mullen says he fell in love with the place when first riding in Dubai in 1997 but competing in Britain as well was taking a toll on his family life.

He adds: "I wasn't setting anything alight in Britain. I was, as they call them, a 'journeyman jockey'. I was riding for some very nice stables – I rode for John Gosden and Sir Michael Stoute – but that would basically be at the weekends and there was a lot of travelling.

"I had four young kids at the time. It's very hard. You don't have a life. I'd always come out here for the winter but my kids were in school so they wouldn't come with me. Dubai offered me the one thing it's very hard for any jockey to get: time with family. And it also provided me with the chance to ride in races.

"People say, 'Do you miss Britain?' I don't. I don't class it as home any more."

Temple Meads gave Richard Mullen a valuable success in the Super SprintCredit: Mark Cranham

Mullen remembers his moment of clarity, when he decided riding in Britain was no longer worthwhile.

He says: "I drove to Catterick for one ride, it took me nearly five hours to get there, the horse won, and it took nearly six hours to get home. I had that much time in the car I actually calculated going there had cost me money.

"Telling the wife we were moving to Dubai wasn't so difficult, telling [owner] John Fretwell, who I was retained to ride for, was the hardest thing as he was such a great supporter of mine and we'd had some great days.

"I said, 'Look, boss, it's just not viable anymore and I'm not happy in what I'm doing'. And there are a lot of jocks like that in Britain – it's a shame because I think Britain does have the best jockeys in the world. I used to look in the weighing room and see a lot of top-class jockeys going for one ride here and one ride there."

Meydan: where the action will unfold on SaturdayCredit: Edward Whitaker

Mullen has twice been UAE champion jockey and since the 2012-13 campaign has featured in the top three on the jockeys' leaderboard every season except one. Reynaldothewizard's Golden Shaheen victory in 2013 gave him a much-coveted World Cup night winner but winning the big race, particularly for long-time ally Seemar, would be on another level.

He says: "I've had good rides at the World Cup meeting and success with Reynaldothewizard. Then you have an ambition to ride in the World Cup and I've done that, but never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined a situation where I was on the favourite in the world's richest race."

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