Paul Pickard was one of the surprise packages of 2009. The apprentice jockey tells STEVE CARROLL how he has set his sights on the top this season.

THERE is no messing about, no hedging your bets. Paul Pickard’s belief about the Flat season ahead is refreshingly honest.

Ask some trainers or jockeys about their hopes for the 2010 campaign and you will usually get the following answers: have more winners than the year before, try to improve on last year’s target, pick up a nice handicap or two if possible.

No one would have begrudged him trotting those mantras out.

From just one winner in 2008, Pickard set the apprentice scene alight last year notching 36 victories and cementing a fifth place finish in the title table.

But he doesn’t just want to go one better in 2010.

“I am going to try to become Champion Apprentice,” he said. “I finished fifth last year and so I am hoping to go a bit better.

“It will be difficult, with the Newmarket apprentices and the big trainers behind them, but with Freddie (Tylicki) and David Probert now fully-fledged jockeys, I should be able to pick up a few more rides.

“There is no reason why I can’t have a crack at it – not if I keep getting good horses to ride.”

That depends on Westow trainer Paul Midgley, who takes an enormous amount of credit for revitalising Pickard’s career following a spell in the doldrums with Sledmere’s Declan Carroll.

It should surprise no one that Midgley also enjoyed a best campaign last year, with 45 winners and, on the all-weather circuit, the pair have continued to plunder victories.

Pickard’s assault on the championship was handed a further boost at the turn of 2010 when he became the first recipient of Beverley Racecourse’s Kyne-Wilson Scholarship.

Their support, with riding gear, driving lessons and a website – sponsorship worth several thousand pounds – was donated in memory of Jamie Kyne and Jan Wilson, the apprentice jockeys tragically killed in a flat fire in Norton last September.

Pickard, who was good friends with Kyne, was delighted to receive the award, and plans to do the pair proud.

“It was nice,” he added. “I worked with Jamie at Declan Carroll’s and helped him to get a job with John Quinn. I rode against him a few times as well and he was a good mate.

“When I got the scholarship, I rang his dad and he was pleased. It means I can get gear when I want it and they are also paying for driving lessons. Hopefully, I will pass my test soon enough.”

If you haven’t seen Pickard in the winner’s enclosure that much in recent weeks, don’t worry. It isn’t too long before a 5lb claim becomes 3lb and Pickard has been protecting his advantage to try to take some nice prizes as the turf season enters its first few weeks.

Hard work has always been his ethic and he is determined not to let up.

“I don’t think I could have picked it to go any better,” he continued. “To come from last year and riding one winner to riding 36 winners – I think it was a great achievement.

“Having Paul Midgley as a trainer behind me has helped a lot. I want this season to be better and what my progress has shown is that hard work pays off. Paul offered me a job and everything picked up from there.

“There are some nice horses this year. We’ve got a lot of nice two-year-olds and, hopefully, I will be on the ones that are going to win. Let’s see what happens. Hopefully, it will be a great season.”