‘Don’t Mistake Kindness for Weakness’: The Competitive Fire Within Harry Bentley
Harry Bentley’s impeccable manners and measured tone mask a fierce will to win.
SOFTLY SPOKEN, unfailingly polite and blessed with the manners of a country-club Englishman, Harry Bentley could pass for a visiting academic rather than one of Hong Kong’s most competitive athletes. But those who’ve seen him hold his line in the heat of a Sha Tin or Happy Valley finish know better.
With Bentley, the phrase ‘don’t mistake kindness for weakness’ comes to mind. “I’m not someone who is super aggressive, and I’m never going to come out with punchy, headline-grabbing things,” he says. “But that’s not a takeaway from my competitive edge or my wanting to do well. That’s not something that can be confused.”
“I’m just super competitive. In anything I do – golf, paddle, whatever – I don’t want to just turn up and have a knock about. I want to win.”
Sitting in a hip café in Soho, he looks right at home – but he is clearly just as comfortable on horseback. Bentley might have a schoolboy’s face and schoolmaster’s manners but his career has been built on self-discipline and detail.
Bentley’s opportunity in Hong Kong came in April 2021, in the midst of the city’s strict COVID restrictions, when the Jockey Club launched a late-season search for reinforcements. Bentley seized it, riding five winners in that short campaign and earning a permanent place on what is a star-studded roster. Last season, his fourth full campaign, he finished equal tenth in the premiership with 31 wins, level with Alexis Badel. This term he’s already struck four times at better than nine per cent and rides the exciting sprinter Tomodachi Kokoroe on Sunday in a competitive Class 2.
That fire beneath the calm exterior comes from a childhood of constant competition, much of it on horseback.
“My brother’s 18 months older than me and he was always that little bit ahead – stronger, faster, better. It kept me feisty and super competitive,” Bentley says. “We had ponies at home and we’d race, jump, whatever. It made me gritty from a young age.”
Growing up in West Sussex, Bentley was small and too restless to really excel in class. “I loved rugby,” he recalls, “but as everyone grew, I stayed the same. Pretty quickly I realised I was going to get flattened.” When that sporting door closed, that same lack of size opened another.
At 15 Bentley began riding out for Gary Moore, father of champion Ryan Moore. “Gary came up to me in the string one morning and said, ‘Would you consider getting your licence?’ That was music to my ears,” Bentley says. “I went home and told my parents I didn’t want to stay on at school for A-levels – I wanted to throw everything at trying to be a jockey.”
His father’s response became Bentley’s creed: no half measures. “He said, if you’re going to do this, you can’t half-ass it. You have to put everything into it,” Bentley recalls. “That’s stuck with me ever since. I want to be at the top of the tree, not just mixing it in the midfield.”
Working for Moore was a crash course in accountability. “Gary made you work. Maybe baptism by fire, but a really good start. He held you accountable – if I’d ridden a bad race, I’d absolutely know about it,” Bentley says. “I prefer that. Give me five points in a row. That’s the only way to improve.”
That tough love from Moore built a habit of constant self-assessment. “I’ve always been critical of myself. I still watch every replay. You’ve got to keep improving.”
The self-discipline required to dive into the details is a necessary trait in Hong Kong, where jockeys work without agents. “You’re having to look for all the little details yourself,” he says. “Horses dropping in class or stepping up with light weights.”
Bentley has ridden the tight and frantic Happy Valley particularly well. He finished equal tenth overall in the standings but his 19 winners at the city track in 2024/25 was fifth best among all riders. He smiles when asked how many decisions a jockey needs to make in a typical 1650-metre race at Happy Valley.
“How many decisions? Unbelievable,” he says. “Anyone who has a half a grip on Hong Kong racing will know there are just so many small nuances that can change the way a race is run or the end result.
“You might think you’re in the best position – one back on the rail, travelling perfect – but then someone loops the field and everyone follows them. All of a sudden you’re boxed in on the rail, you’ve gone from one back to five pairs back and you’re locked in. People say, ‘What happened there?’ But you’re sort of hostage to circumstance.
“Sometimes these things are out of your hands. You’ve just got to be as aware as you can to all these little changes – even things like the wind. It’s about reacting to nuance and being mentally switched on every second.”
So, does Bentley feel he has ‘made it’ in Hong Kong, is his seat in the jockeys’ room safe? “No. Anyone who tells you otherwise – maybe except Zac – is lying,” he says. “You’re one bad ride away from upsetting someone or losing a horse. You can’t burn bridges here. One week you’re not someone’s cup of tea; the next you pick up a spare that wins and the door’s open again. You just keep your head down and persevere.”
That perseverance has earned Bentley more than 1,000 winners worldwide, six champion-jockey titles in Qatar, famous Group 1 triumphs on Limato in the July Cup and Prix de la Forêt. The 33-year-old reached 100 Hong Kong wins last December and has won at Group 3 level twice. A genuine Group 1 opportunity has still evaded him but you get the sense – with Bentley’s quiet determination just under that calm surface – that it may not be far away.
“I never really thought about failing,” Bentley says as he reflects on his journey so far. “Probably naively, but I didn’t. It was just: this is what I’m going to do, and I’m going to make it work.” ∎
