Silvestre de Sousa: ‘The outsider’ who’s quick on the inside line
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5:46 AM EDT, Wed October 12, 2016
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Silvestre de Sousa in the weighing room at Ascot -- the racecourse where he hopes to be crowned the UK's champion jockey for a second straight season in October.
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De Sousa is going head-to-head for the title with British jockey Jim Crowley -- the tussle looking set to go to the wire at QIPCO Champions Day on 15 October.
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Despite being a relative unknown, de Sousa came close to a first jockeys' title in 2011, finishing runner up to champion Paul Hanagan.
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His most notable victory was at the prestigious Dubai World Cup in 2014 riding for the mighty Godolphin stable.
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There were a number of successes for de Sousa in Godolphin's colors but he was released as their retained jockey in 2015.
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The Godolphin separation and his unusual passage into flat racing make de Sousa feel like "the outsider," he says.
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Despite feeling like an outsider, the Brazilian considers himself to be an adopted Englishman and has reveled in riding winners for many leading British trainers.
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From Newbury (pictured) to Redcar and every racecourse in between de Sousa has ridden a host of different race winners all over the UK.