Nico de Boinville opens up on the unseen mental toll of being an elite jockey

A candid interview with the Gold Cup-winning jockey

The panel dives into Constitution Hill, schooling, Cheltenham contenders, and Nico’s thoughts on the Gold Cup including his ride on Jango Baie this season.

They also debate whether Cheltenham should be 3, 4, or 5 days, but most candidly, Nico delved into the world of being a jockey, and the mental struggles that are attached to it.

"I think the life of a jockey is fantastic, but there are times when it is seriously tough mentally, and you're going to have a lot more bad days than good days.

"But I think the preparation of it, from the foundations, from the racing school, I think the true realities of what it takes to get to a level, probably needs to be highlighted a bit more."

The Paddock is a show hosted by Oli Bell, with weekly episodes with the best tips, news, talking points and special guests from the world of horse racing. Catch The Paddock on YouTube, or listen on podcast – wherever you get your podcasts.

"The PJA (Professional Jockeys Association) is aligned with the Sporting Chance clinic, which Tony Adams' set up, and a lot of sporting people go through that, when they are having difficulties in life, and probably amongst the jockeys it's not used enough. Probably speaking to someone once a week, or once a month, is highly beneficial."

Nico then went on to reveal the impact that the deaths of James Banks and Liam Treadwell had on the racing community, and in particular jockeys.

Former jump jockey Banks was found dead at his home in 2020, almost two years to the day after his retirement, having rode 85 winners in his career.

And Grand National-winning jockey Liam Treadwell died aged 34 in 2021 after taking a cocktail of drugs, an inquest heard.

"I think it's definitely changed in the last 10 years, and we've had some major events in the jumps weighing room, a couple of people have died, and that made us all really sit up and think, and it's definitely something that is spoken about now."

When asked about the jockey deaths, Nico said: "James Banks and Liam Treadwell, and we were all very, very close with them. Incredibly sad that it got to that point."