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He’s only been in the country for a couple of weeks but every time English riding sensation Tom Marquand takes to the racetrack in Sydney, it’s a reminder he’s in a foreign land.

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“When we are down at the start for the trials and things like that, the jockeys here are talking about going surfing the next day or arranging a game of golf — they have a lifestyle away from racing,’’ Marquand said.

“At home, none of the jockeys would be talking about what they are going to do tomorrow because we are all riding the next day. Often we are driving to a race meeting and not getting back until 1am because that is what you do in England.’’

The fresh-faced, well-spoken Marquand is in Sydney on a “working holiday” over summer and admits he has been forced to slow down because in England he is used to riding in races every day of the week.

In fact, English racing authorities introduced a rule restricting the number of race meetings a jockey can ride at each week to prevent riders like Marquand from working too much. But the slower pace of life as a jockey in Sydney isn’t mirrored on the racetrack.

The frenetic tempo of Sydney racing is altogether different to what Marquand is used to in England, but he is making the necessary adjustments.

Marquand, 20, created a lot of attention with two brilliant winning rides at Randwick last week, including an outstanding effort on the John O’Shea-trained Live And Free.

Suddenly, Marquand is a jockey in demand and on the Kensington on Saturday he has six rides for five different stables.

David Hayes, who trains in partnership with his son, Ben, and Tom Dabernig, was the first to recognise Marquand’s ability and brought the young jockey out to Lindsay Park in Victoria three years ago, where he rode two winners from 10 rides.

On his second visit Down Under, Marquand has linked with O’Shea at Randwick to experience Sydney racing.

But Hayes has stuck by the Englishman, giving him the winning ride on Movie Role last week.

Hayes has again booked Marquand on Saturday for his two-year-old colt, the first-starter Jahbath, in the Events By ATC Handicap (1150m).

Trainer Mark Newnham has Marquand riding Battle Cry in the 2019 Membership Handicap (1300m) and new stable acquisition Invinzabeel in the Kensington Handicap (1550m).

Marquand’s other rides are the John Thompson-trained Our Belisa (Australian Turf Club Handicap, 1500m), Duchess Moshe for the training partnership of Barbara Joseph, Matt and Paul Jones (TAB Highway Handicap, 1300m) and Brett Partelle’s Invincible Quest in the Summer Racing Sprint (1000m).

He also has three rides at Canterbury on Friday night — Spiritiosa (#The Races Handicap, 1250m), Miss Monte (Autumn Carnival On Sale Handicap, 1100m) and San Francisco in the TAB Rewards Handicap (1900m).

Sydney racing has the deepest pool of riding talent in the southern hemisphere but Marquand is holding his own, adapting quickly to the style.

Much is made of the tightness of Australian racing compared to England but Marquand believes the major difference is tempo.

“The speed of how races develop here is very real,’’ he said. “To the untrained eye people may not tell but jockeys filter down into a position a lot quicker.

“Everyone settles into the rhythm of a race more quickly here than back home. The races here then don’t really change much until turning for home with a furlong and a bit to run. But back in England, the races change the whole way through, there are developments and movements all the time.’’

Marquand said even trackwork is very different, although that is often dictated by the geography of Australian training tracks, which are much smaller with sharper turns than English trackwork centres.

“The thing I’ve noticed over here is the training regimes are to train speed into the horses,’’ he said. “At trackwork we do a lot of ‘5 home 2’ (1000m and sprint home final 400m) and ‘3 home 1’ (600m and sprint home final 200m). You get to the furlong pole going from half speed to a flat-out gallop and this is reflected in the way jockeys ride in races, too. But back home you are building into a race all the time and horses are trained in that manner as well.’’

Marquand is coming off a sensational 2018, when he rode 106 winners, and is regarded as the “next big thing” in the English riding ranks.

He won the champion apprentices’ title three years ago and it has fuelled his ambition to win the senior jockeys’ title.

“When I was gunning for champion apprentice I had a scrap with Jack Garrity for the title,’’ he said. “I enjoyed the pressure of that and it has narrowed my mindset to how I would like to try and win champion jockey one day if possible.

“I’ve been watching the likes of Silvestre De Sousa and Ryan Moore, great jockeys like that, and I can see what it takes for them to be champion jockey.’’

Marquand rides for leading English trainer Richard Hannon, who believes the rider can one day win the jockeys’ premiership.

Hannon can speak with authority on the subject as Moore won the apprentices’ title when he was riding for the trainer in 2003.

Marquand will be in Sydney for the rest of this month before returning to England.

“I have come here with a working holiday mentality to a degree but I have been riding out (trackwork) most mornings,’’ he said. “I like to stay busy. Last year would reflect that as I had over 1000 rides. It is nice to come down and experience racing like this in Sydney.”

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