ARVIN CHADEE, who rode out at Harper Lodge Farm for four years before landing one of the highly prized 12 places on Godolphin’s graduate Flying Start course, is back at the yard…but only temporarily!
Arvin, who is 28 next week, has completed half of the two-year-course which has taken him to some of Godolphin’s most prestigious studs and training establishments and is riding out at the yard a couple of days a week before resuming his studies later this month.
Home is North London, up the road from Spurs’ old ground and as Arvin said in an interview earlier today with Solario Racing’s Simon Double, “I never saw a horse or touched a horse until I was 21.” He did a three week foundation course at the Northern Racing College, where he learned to ride “and that’s the start of the journey and it changed my life,” he added. He rode out at Mick Appleby’s yard in Newark before starting a degree course in Business Management at London Metropolitan University in 2015, which was when he started to ride out at Radlett.
Arvin knew then he wanted to get on to the Flying Start course and pursue a career in the racing industry. Some 1,500 applicants from around the world applied and Arvin beat the odds to land a place. The course comprises all aspects of the thoroughbred industry and includes the theoretical and the practical. During his first year, he has broken in yearlings at Kildangan Stud in Ireland and worked at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket.
Arvin was clearly in awe of Godolphin’s heavyweights as he said: “We got to meet Dubawi, Too Darn Hot, New Approach and one of my personal favourites, Fantastic Light, who’s now retired. He was one of the horses I grew up watching.”
Despite Covid-19 interrupting some of the practical course work, he still learned a lot in the States, the third leg of the first year when his course work included helping to foal at Jonabell Farm in Kentucky.
Arvin clearly gets on very well with the other 11 students. “We’re a very close group. Everyone’s got amazing experience but it’s so diverse. We work well off eachother.
“The great thing about Flying Start is that it attracts young people with innovative ideas and a different perception to try and change racing and change it for the better. We all love the sport but we can’t be under any illusions that we have many obstacles and challenges and we need new ideas, new ways of thinking and different people and different leaderships to try and help instigate positive change.”
It’s too early for Arvin (pictured riding Badenscoth) to know what aspect of racing he wants to pursue but he has a fondness for British racing which he described as “the best racing in the world.”
The second year comprises working in Dubai and Australia, subject to Covid-19 not scuppering plans. In the meantime, he is enjoying catching up with old friends at Harper Lodge Farm, both human and equine but did admit to feeling a little sore after his first ride back!