Benoit De La Sayette guided Rubbeldiekatz to victory at Wolverhampton on his first side since returning from the six-month ban he received for testing positive for cocaine.
On the sidelines since riding at Newmarket on April 15 last year, De La Sayette showed no signs of rustiness as he pushed out 14/1 shot Rubbeldiekatz to win the Watch Racing Free Online At Coral Handicap, getting up in the final strides to beat Storm Asset and Franny Norton by a short head.
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De La Sayette had established himself as one of the rising stars of the weighing room during the first few weeks of 2021, culminating with victory on Haqeeqy in the Lincoln at Doncaster.
Remarkably, that was De La Sayette's first ride on turf and it was the highlight of his budding association with the powerful yard of John and Thady Gosden, support which promised to bring further success in 2021.
However, a video was subsequently circulated on social media claiming to show De La Sayette at a party in the presence of cocaine following his Doncaster victory, prompting the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) to take urine and hair samples from De la Sayette on March 31.
The urine sample returned negative on the same day the test was administered, but the hair sample had returned positive for metabolites of cocaine, with an interim suspension placed on the rider on April 17, with De La Sayette admitting he had previously used the drug, although insisting the video was from October 2019.
A six-month ban was subsequently dished out by the BHA and, though able to return in October had he chosen to do so, De La Sayette waited until Wolverhampton on Saturday to come back, the same day on which he had enjoyed his biggest moment in the saddle so far at Doncaster 12 months earlier.
"I’m over the moon," he told Sky Sports Racing after the win of Rubbeldiekatz. "She’s such a trier. I spoke to George Scott [trainer] before the race and he said she’s got a big heart and she really tries to the line. She’s shown that today.
"I’m just delighted to have a winner for Mr Scott and for my first ride back it’s unbelievable. I made a big mistake. I just want to prove to everyone who I am and look to the future really.
"I’ve been at Clarehaven [the stables of John and Thady Gosden] every morning since my apprenticeship started three years ago, so I’ve learnt a lot and all the people around me have taught me so much this past year.
"It’s all thanks to them really."
"I made a big mistake and I just want to prove to everyone who I am..."
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) March 26, 2022
Benoit de la Sayette chats to @SimonMapletoft after making a winning return at @WolvesRaces pic.twitter.com/cQOVEi1wty
Benoit De La Sayette career profile
The fact that he was the first apprentice jockey to be attached to the John Gosden yard for nearly 30 years tells you just about everything you need to know about Benoit De La Sayette.
A prolific winner in the pony racing ranks in both Britain and France in his youth, De La Sayette clearly possesses a natural talent which quickly caught the attention of form students just as it did that of Gosden, the five-time champion trainer who gave the jockey his first ride under Rules aboard Bosphorus at Chelmsford in November 2020.
De La Sayette had still only ridden in four races before getting off the mark aboard Hint of Stars at Newcastle three days before the end of 2020. That fluent success put De La Sayette on many people’s radars heading into his first full season with a licence in 2021, which he kicked off with a bang by immediately doubling his career tally on his first ride of the calendar year aboard Heptathlete at Wolverhampton.
Those back-to-back wins were a portent of things to come during the rest of January 2021 for De La Sayette, who ended the month with six winners from 16 rides. Gosden provided him with two of those winners (plus another one in early-February), while Belgian-born trainer Kevin Philippart De Foy was also a loyal supporter during the early stages of De La Sayette’s career, supplying him with five winners.
James Fanshawe, who used to call Philippart De Foy his assistant trainer, also gave De La Sayette a winner when Show Me A Sunset struck at Chelmsford in January 2021, continuing an association with the family which goes back much further than that.
Indeed, De La Sayette used to be a regular visitor to the Fanshawe yard during the school holidays when accompanying his father Geoffrey, who has been a work rider for the trainer for around 15 years having previously ridden professionally in France.
Geoffrey De La Sayette also had a spell working for Godolphin in the ’90s and used to partner the dual King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Swain on the gallops – it no doubt filled him with pride to watch his son carry the royal blue silks of Godolphin to victory when Law of The Sea won a novice event at Kempton in January 2021.
Benoit De La Sayette limited the number of rides he took in February 2021 to protect his 7-lb claim for the turf season, which looked a sensible move at the time given the ammunition he could expect to receive from Gosden in some of the better handicaps during the summer months.
Haqeeqy got the ball rolling with his victory in the Lincoln in March 2021 – a first winner on turf for De La Sayette on his very first ride on the surface – but the jockey only had chance to add two more winners to his tally (taking his total to 12) before his six-month ban for testing positive for cocaine kicked in.
