Good Evening!
Welcome to a new post here at zoelouisesmithx.com. Today I am very excited to bring to you an interview with the one and only Kian Burley. I spoke with Kian and his mom Hannah on the phone last weekend where we discussed all things racing so without further ado, let’s jump straight into it!
Me: First things first, what made you get into horse racing?
Kian: So I like watching it on the TV and it’s the best sport and it’s so much fun because it is interesting when they have hurdles and fences.
Me: And when you went to Cheltenham last year, what was your favourite winner that you seen?
Kian: Shishkin.
Me: Do you think it will win again this year?
Kian: Yeah!
Me: What do you think is one horse that will definitely win at Cheltenham this year? What is the best horse going to Cheltenham this year?
Kian: I think Appreciate it for Willie Mullins.
Me: Do you think Willie Mullins will win another Gold Cup with Al Boum Photo or do you think something else will win?
Kian: I think something else will win it this year.
Me: Do you know who yet or have you not decided who yet?
Kian: I don’t now yet!
Me: And what about the Grand National, do you think Tiger Roll will win again?
Kian: I think Tiger Roll will win it again.
Me: And now, of course I have to ask you Kian, obviously Paddy Brennan is your favourite jockey, why do you love him so much?
Kian: Because he’s the best jockey in the whole wide world.
Me: And apart from Paddy, what other jockey’s do you like watching?
Kian: Connor Brace, Liam Harrison, Max Kendrick, Will Kennedy, Harry Skelton, Callum Rodriguez and Eoin Walsh. I like them all!
Me: And when you went to Cheltenham and you got to meet all the jockeys and trainers, who was your favourite person to meet?
Kian: Gary Windass.
Hannah: He met Gary Windass off Coronation Street and that’s all he ever goes on about! He was sat on the table next to us at Cheltenham and now that’s all he ever goes on about. Who was your favourite jockey to meet though?
Kian: PADDY!
Me: And when Paddy walked into your school Kian, how did you feel?
Kian: Amazed! I nearly fell of my chair!
Hannah: To be fair, only his class teacher, headteacher, me and my mom knew about it. The school had sent a letter out to get permission for other children to be on camera so Kian came home from school and said ‘aw we’re gonna be on camera but I don’t know what for. So me and my mom were saying ‘oh we don’t know what that is’. Then Barry from The Jockey Club had rang me and said if we ask people who wants a microphone on them do you think Kian will put his hand up and I said 100% yes he will, so when Barry came in and said we need a helper to have a microphone on do we have any volunteers, Kian put two hands up, he was making sure he got picked!
Me: How did it feel at Cheltenham Kian when everybody knew who you were?
Kian: Amazed! I had about 4 people ask for selfies!
Me: What was your favourite part of the day?
Kian: When the cameras were following me around.
Me: And of course you go down to Ravenswell to see Fergal and the team too, who’s your next favourite trainer aside from Fergal?
Kian: Erm… No one.
Me: Just Fergal?
Kian: Yes!
Me: How often do you go down to Fergal’s?
Hannah: It’s whenever we can get down there really, they’re 3 hours away from us, so when we go we have to set off at 4 in the morning…
Kian: We’ve gotta be down there for half 7!
Me: I was lucky enough to go down last year and I loved it down there. I think the whole team are just lovely to speak to.
Hannah: They are! They’re lovely. They’ve all got so much time for Kian as well and the Doc, Dr Simon is absolutely brilliant with him. They’re all just so nice.
Me: When you do go down to Ravenswell, who’s your favourite horse?
Kian: All of them!
Me: All of them? You don’t have a favourite?
Kian: No.
Hannah: He does… It is Imperial Alcazar?
Kian: Yeah!
Me: And what do you think when Fergal has a horse and he runs miles and miles ahead of all the others? He’s had quite a few that I’ve seen that just run off a million miles ahead!
Kian: I think what are you doing? Like Totterdown!
Me: So apart from Fergal’s horses, what’s your favourite horse you’ve watched?
Kian: Cue Card!
Hannah: When you watch your YouTube videos, what’s the race you always watch?
Kian: Cue Card winning the King George!
Me: And what race courses have you been to so far?
Kian: Everywhere!
Me: What one is your favourite?
Kian: Market Rasen!
Me: And obviously I know you get on really well with Doctor Simon and I seen the other day you was winding him up on Twitter about his cardigan, what did you think of his cardigan, have you seen it yet?
Kian: Not yet.
Hannah: What do you think of cardigans? Would you wear one?
Kian: NO!
Me: Do you think it will suit Doctor Simon wearing a cardigan?
Kian: NO!
Me: I feel like I have to ask you because Fergal is known to love his cakes, so what’s your favourite cake?
Kian: Victoria Sponge.
Hannah: You little fibber! You like chocolate cake!
Me: I seen on Twitter that you wrote a letter to Boris didn’t you?
Kian: Yeah and an email!
Me: Did you get a reply?
Kian: No! I wrote to Her Majesty the Queen!
Me: What did you say to the Queen?
Kian: About her horses.
Me: Do you watch flat racing and jumps?
Kian: I like them both!
Me: What’s your favourite flat race?
Kian: St Leger!
Me: And what’s your favourite jumps race?
Kian: Gold Cup! I remember when Paddy won it on Imperial Commander!
Hannah: You don’t remember it, you’ve seen the videos of it.
Me: And your mom’s always tweeting saying how you scream the house down whenever you’re watching the racing and now you have the biggest trending quote in racing…
Kian: GO ON PADDY LAD!
Me: Everybody shouts it now don’t they?
Hannah: When we were at Cheltenham and we were walking through people were stopping him to say go on Paddy lad! Even now when he goes into school people will shout go on Kian lad!
Me: What do you want to do next after lockdown?
Kian: Get back to racing!
Me: Where do you want to go next?
Kian: Every racecourse!
Me: Is that the plan? To do every racecourse?
Hannah: We’re going to try and go to Ireland too and see some Irish racing.
Me: Talking about Irish racing, I seen you met Gordon Elliott at Cheltenham too, what did he say to you?
Kian: Aye up Kian lad!
Me: Everyone just knows who you are!
Kian: And I met Ruby Walsh!
Hannah: When we first went through the gates Ruby Walsh was stood there and he said ‘hiya Kian’.
Kian: I spoke to Davy Russell, Nico de Boinville and Harry Cobden. I spoke to everyone!
Me: To finish off Kian, what are we telling everyone to bet on for Cheltenham?
Kian: Imperial Alcazar.
Me: And as Fergal’s assistant, do you know what race he’s going into yet or have you not decided?
Kian: We haven’t decided. I had a look and I think the 3 mile staying hurdle.
Me: With Fergal do you advise him on what to do or does he advise you?
Kian: I advise him!
Me: Thank you for talking to me today Kian!
Kian: Thank you!
Firstly I want to say a massive thank you to Kian and Hannah for having a chat with me, I thoroughly enjoyed our call and talking about all things racing. I think Kian is absolutely brilliant for the sport and I think he has a long future in the sport with whatever he chooses to do next.
And secondly, if you haven’t already seen, Kian has started up his very own blog and I highly recommend going over to his page to have a read of his work: https://theassistanttrainer.wordpress.com/.
Again thank you to Kian and Hannah for their time and I hope my readers enjoy this informal interview/chat as much as I have!
zoelouisesmithx 