From racecourse tea boy to million-dollar race

A man who started out serving tea to jockeys is getting ready to enter his own horse in a million-dollar race.

After he finished riding himself, Ryan Tongue set up the Deva Racing management company, backed by owners from the UK and overseas.

He now manages more than 25 horses, including Imperial Emperor, which is due to run in the G1 Maktoum Challenge in Dubai later this month.

The 28-year-old said: "It's a million-dollar race and we only paid £62,000 for him last April - it's very exciting."

Mr Tongue started working in the weighing room at Worcester Racecourse and can take credit for discovering last year's Grand National winner, I am Maximus.

He said: "I bought him from Ireland as a three-year-old.

"I met [racehorse trainer] Henrietta Knight over there, and saw a couple of horses but really liked him, so I bought him on behalf of [former owner] Mr Grech.

"Sadly Mr Grech passed away, so we sold him to JP McManus and then he went on to win the Grand National last year."

"For a 28-year-old to buy a National winner, that's not too bad."

Mr Tongue credits his career to date to his early teenage years working at Worcester Racecourse, seeing the success of the jockeys there.

"Looking after AP McCoy was unbelievable, he was an inspiration," he said.

"Before his ride [at Worcester racecourse] he'd have half a cup of tea and seven sugars.

"He used to love his scampi with a bit of mayonnaise and always have a box of celebrations after the race."

Mr Tongue started as a jockey at The British Racing School in Newmarket then moved to Oliver Greenall's in Cheshire.

"I worked up there until I was 19, and rode out in the summer at Dr Richard Newland's yard here in Worcestershire," he said.

"I was very lucky - my second or third [point-to-point] ride I rode for some partners Mr Grech and Mr Parkin, and they had 40 horses."

After suffering several falls during these races, Mr Tongue turned his back on ambitions of being a jockey and moved into racing management.

"They [Grech and Parkin] actually called me a few years later after riding for them to racing manage their horses and that was that," he said.

Deva Racing started out in 2019 with just three horses, but now manages more than 25 in the UK, US and Dubai and bought thoroughbred Imperial Emperor last year.

A mixture of UK and Dubai-based owners have been rewarded with two wins from two starts.

The thoroughbred will be competing in a Group 1 race, the highest level of the flat racing world, on 24 January.

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