A former X Factor contestant and boy band member says his return to horse racing feels like a full-circle moment as he swaps the stage for the racecourse. Before finding fame with pop group Union J, JJ Hamblett, who grew up in Newmarket in Suffolk, spent his youth horse racing and gained his jockey licence at 16. His first competitive appearance came at Doncaster Racecourse in 2005 and on 11 September, he will return there to take part in The Leger Legends race.
"It's like I've done this huge 360 and gone back to where I started, which is going to be very unusual next week," said the 38-year-old. "I've loved being back in horse racing and I've kind of got that buzz back again." Growing up around horses and with his father a jockey, the singer said he loved ponies and eventually started riding racehorses at 14 years old. "Whenever we wasn't at school, we would kind of want to always be riding horses," Hamblett said about himself and his brother.
"And when I wasn't riding, I was in my room and singing karaoke... singing a bit of Westlife and Boyzone." He recalled filming himself singing using a VHS recorder as a child. When he later watched the tape with his family, they discovered he had accidentally recorded over all of their childhood videos. "I always kind of loved singing, and that was also my passion," Hamblett said.
The singer said he wanted something "extra" in his career and that he was "missing that buzz" with horse racing. "I'm quite tall for a jockey, I'm 5ft 9in (1.75m)... but I did struggle with my weight, so I got to the point where I was about 8st 9lb (55kg) which does seem light in hindsight, but it was quite heavy," he added. "I was trying to keep my weight down all the time and struggling driving up to Scotland for one ride, and the opportunities weren't there at the time." He went on to try acting before deciding to join an online platform for people in the creative industry.
His future bandmate Jaymi Hensley then got in touch. "To this day, he says, 'The only reason I let you in is because you had a six pack,'" Hamblett added. The band initially formed as a trio called Triple J in 2011 before they auditioned in the ninth series of The X Factor.
George Shelley joined as the group's fourth member during the competition and the band, renamed Union J, went on to finish fourth under judge Louis Walsh. Hamblett became an apprentice jockey at 16 under champion trainer Sir Michael Stoute. He rode his first winner in 2005 with another 22 wins over five seasons.
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