Silvestre de Sousa

Silvestre De Sousa (born 31 December 1980 in São Francisco do Maranhão, Brazil) is a Brazilian flat racing jockey based in Britain. In 2011, he was runner-up for the British flat racing Champion Jockey title with 161 winners. In 2015 he won his first British jockeys title with 132 winners.^[1]

Childhood and early career

He was born in São Francisco do Maranhão, Maranhão. He moved to São Paulo when he was 17 years old. The youngest of ten siblings, De Sousa was 18 before he sat on a racehorse for the first time. This came after a chance meeting with a man who worked at the local Cidade Jardim racecourse, who introduced him to Fausto Durso (one of the leading jockeys in São Paulo at the time, later twice champion jockey in Macau). Durso suggested that De Sousa had the build of a jockey.^[2]

In an interview with the magazine Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder, De Sousa remembers an inauspicious beginning to his career. “I started very badly…it took me six months to get my first ride, but 16 months later I was champion apprentice and had lost my claim.”^[2] After breaking his arm in a fall, De Sousa was sidelined for six months; riding fewer after his return, he joined Irish trainer Dermot Weld. However, the move did not work out; De Sousa initially struggled to adjust to the change in environment. In a 2011 Daily Mail interview he recalled, “It was like being on another planet compared to Sao Paulo. I was 22 and I couldn’t speak a word of English”.^[3]

After two years without a ride in public, De Sousa was offered the chance to move to England and link up with Thirsk-based trainer David Nicholls. De Sousa remembers the moment he was offered the role, recalling “What did I have to lose? I thought I would try it for two weeks on the way home (to Sao Paulo), but from the beginning Mr. Nicholls started organizing my paperwork and I rode in my first race soon after”.^[2] By the end of 2006 (his first season in Britain), De Sousa had ridden 27 winners from 195 runners for a win rate of 14 percent.^[4]

Breakthrough

With Nicholls using his son Adrian as first jockey and De Sousa getting many outside rides, de Sousa decided to freelance. In a 2010 Daily Mail interview, he described the difficult time: “That was tough at first. It would be the same if a British lad went to Brazil. I am very grateful to trainers like Geoff Harker and David O’Meara who put me up on their horses”.^[3]

However, De Sousa continued to ride winners; after winning 21, 35 and 68 races in 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively, he reached his maiden century of winners in 2010 and attracted the attention of northern trainer Mark Johnston. In a 2011 BBC interview Johnson said, “I noticed him last season when he rode 100 winners for mainly small trainers, often on horses at long odds”.^[5]

2011

With support from the Mark Johnston yard, De Sousa made a good start in 2011. After initially being excluded fromn some bookmakers’ lists for the flat-jockeys’ championship, with monthly totals of 24, 20 and 27 winners in May, June and July respectively he was heading the title race.^[2] His association with Johnson led to big wins for De Sousa at Epsom on Derby Day and twice at Royal Ascot; his first wins at the Royal meeting came on Fox Hunt in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes and Namibian in the Queen's Vase. De Sousa described his Ascot victories as "unbelievable", saying “when you look at my background, you would never think I would ride a winner in Royal Ascot”.^[6]

The 2010 champion jockey Paul Hanagan regained the lead by September; having incurred a four-day suspension in early October, De Sousa’s chances of a first title were fading.^[7] He continued to focus on his championship challenge with 32 winners in October; however, Mark Johnson's decision to put de Sousa on Fox Hunt in Australia's Melbourne Cup was another blow to his title bid. Explaining the logic behind his decision to send De Sousa to Melbourne to ride the Duke Of Edinburgh winner, Johnson said “He (De Sousa) would rather win four races at Wolverhampton and be called champion jockey than have to come out here. But I hope that if he wins the Melbourne Cup then he’ll realize that’s much bigger than being champion jockey”.^[7] Fox Hunt finished seventh in the Cup.

Despite failing (by four winners) to pass Hanagan in the title race, 2011 was De Sousa’s best-ever season; while Hanagan has suggested he may not try for a third successive title, De Sousa has no such qualms. “I don’t have to waste. I wake up every morning, eight stone. Of course, I get tired at the end of the day but after sleeping, you’re fresh again.”^[8]