Flat racing's 'Billy the Kid' wants more than just title

BBC Sport speaks to Billy Loughnane, the prodigy nicknamed 'Billy the Kid' who is set to be named champion jockey on Saturday and targeting a record. Billy Loughnane is set to be named champion flat jockey on Saturday Billy Loughnane had never ridden in a professional race this time four years ago. Now he is set to be crowned Flat racing's champion jockey. And, at just 20, he's the youngest person to do so in more than a century – which means he hasn't yet shaken off the nickname "Billy the Kid". "It's been an extraordinary couple of years, really," said Loughnane. "I didn't think it would snowball into what it's become." In January 2023, BBC Sport went to visit Loughnane at his family's racing yard in Worcestershire.

As a 16-year-old, he was taking the racing world by storm, racking up more than 20 winners in the first few weeks of the year – temporarily putting him top of the flat jockey standings. While being champion apprentice was his goal, becoming the champion jockey was a dream that felt a "long way off". This Saturday, on Champions Day at Ascot, Loughnane will lift the trophy. When asked what he would have thought if someone had told him that when he drove up to Newcastle for his first race as an