NICHOLAS HALL - Although he is the son of retired jockey Greg Hall, who rode multiple group one winners in his time including the 1992 Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup, Nick showed no interest in riding until deciding to give it a go at the age of 17. It is said that when told to saddle up a horse for the first time he put the saddle on backwards, but he rocketed through his apprenticeship and soon joined the ranks of Australia's top riders. When connected with horses owned by his godfather Lloyd Williams he is always one to watch.
DEAN YENDALL - Dean Yendall started his riding in Bordertown South Australia. A successful apprentice he went on to ride both sides of the S.A./Victoria border. He moved to Horsham in Victoria in 2008 partly to further his career and to get closer to partner Christine Puls (also a jockey). His reputation grew as his work output and win rate put him in the top level. It is thought that he would have clinched the 2009/10 National Championship had it not been for a fall in February 2010 which left him with 2 broken wrists. To prove you can’t keep a good man down he was back riding again towards the end of the season and in July 2010 he rode 6 winners in a day at Mildura. In the 2010/11 season he took more city rides in Melbourne and also travelled interstate with great effect and this together with his ferocious work rate at the provincial tracks put him in the driving seat for the Victorian Premiership and the National championship. He needs to be watched very carefully when he comes to town because he is quite likely to win on any horse regardless of favouritism if it has the legs and he often represents good value in the Jockey Challenge.
DWAYNE DUNN - Dwayne Dunn first came to prominence in South Australia where he was consistently in the top echelon of jockeys developing good relationships with all the local trainers including Mark Kavanaugh and the powerful Hayes establishment. In 2004 he had a successful stint with Tony Millard as a retained rider in Hong Kong and also rode for David Hayes . He continued to ride in S.A. on his return in 2005. He successfully partnered Tawqeet to a nail biting win in the 2006 Caulfield Cup. For a time he was the stable rider for Lee Freedman but after an amicable loosening of the ties he rides for all the top stables. He has built a good record in Melbourne achieving a top ten berth in the Victorian Premiership he is much in demand travelling to all the major carnivals round the country.
CHRIS SYMONS - Chris Symons is originally from Victoria but began his apprenticeship in S. A. with David Hall. He subsequently worked with Alan Williams and Tony Noonan and was a leading junior rider. In 2005 he travelled to America to promote his weight loss riding vest and rode successfully at Emerald Downs (Washington) to notch up 32 winners in 6 months. Apart from his prowess on the race track he is also famous for his “Menagerie” of animals he looks after and does great work promoting the Racing Industry by visiting schools to talk about his life as a Jockey. Not bad for a kid who left school at 14.5 yrs and started mucking out because trainers thought he would get too tall to be a jockey. He is tall for a jockey but can still ride at low weights. He is in the top 10 of the Victorian Premiership and makes the most out of his opportunities with a good win rate.
GLYN SCHOFIELD - came to Australia in late 2007 from South Africa moving his family to Sydney. With riding experience in eight different countries,1800+ wins, and 10 Group 1 wins to his credit, he is always among the top riders in the Jockey Premiership. Connected to a number of top horses including the awesome sprinter Haylist, on whom he would have recorded more wins in the 2010/11 season had they not kept running into the champion mare Black Caviar.
BEN MELHAM - started his racing career as an apprentice with Darren Weir at Ballarat and showed a lot of promise as a youngster winning the Victorian Leading Apprentice title in 2005, transferring to Freedman to complete his apprenticeship. His highly competitive attitude to racing has kept him in the leading division as he has rarely been out of the top 10 riders in Victoria but it has also cost him a lot of time on the sidelines. As an independent jockey he continues to get plenty of rides for the prominent stables and rides regularly for Freedman, Moody, Hayes, Price &, Weir, booted home his 1st Group1 in the 2010 Patinack Farm Classic aboard Black Caviar.
HUGH BOWMAN - now in the top echelon of the Sydney jockeys having been the Leading Jockey in N.S.W. in 2008/2009 season. However it wasn’t always beer and skittles and like many people in all walks of life he has had his times of trouble and strife. He doesn’t hide the fact that he was suspended for six months 2002 at the busiest time of the racing year for illegal substances. But coming out of that dark time he has steadily built his career back to stand on the top of the heap in N.S.W. He is much in demand as a top quality rider in Australia and overseas and has good connections to many leading trainers including the powerful Waterhouse stable.
CHRIS MUNCE - originally from Queensland, moved to Sydney to get into the big time. He was always a popular lightweight rider who could ride well within his healthy weight range and built strong connections with the Sydney training fraternity. He was stable jockey for the powerful Waterhouse stables for a time and in 2006 gained a licence to ride in Hong Kong. An infringement of the Hong Kong rules of racing resulted in a prison sentence, although authorities allowed him to move him back to Sydney to serve out his time. He moved the family back up to Qld and quickly began riding winners again. Travelling to Melbourne for the 2010 Caulfield Cup, he rode Descarado for Gai Waterhouse and after an extremely well timed ride he joined a very small group of jockeys who have won the Australian Racing Grand Slam of the Golden Slipper (twice), Melbourne Cup, Cox Plate and the Caulfield Cup.
CLARE LINDOP - starting her apprenticeship in country Victoria, Clare moved to South Australia to ride for top trainers such as David Balfour, Leon McDonald, Ken Sweeney and Byron Cozamanis. Clare doesn’t believe in glass ceilings and says there are no concessions for gender on the racetrack. She was the Adelaide Premiership Jockey in 2004/05. Won the Victoria Derby in 2008 on 100 to 1 shot Rebel Raider beating the highly fancied favourite Whobegotyou, while on a working holiday in U.K from two rides at Haydock Park won on One Way or Another and came second on Catalan Bay. Clare has been one of the top jockeys in S.A. for several years and with her undoubted talent and ability to ride at a light weight is in demand interstate for many of the feature races.
MICHELLE PAYNE - Born 1985 Michelle the youngest of 11 children raised by her father, Paddy Payne, a racehorse trainer in Ballarat, as a single parent with the help of the older siblings after her mother was killed in a car accident while she was a toddler. Eight of the children have gone on to be race riders and 2 of the boys, Paddy & Andrew, are now trainers. Michelle was apprenticed to her father and began riding when she was 15. She had a lengthy break in 2004 after a serious fall which left her with a fractured skull. She had only just got back to riding when another fall fractured her wrist causing more time on the sidelines. By this time most people would have been looking for a safer job but Michelle went on to win her first Group 1 in the 2009 Toorak Handicap on Allez Wonder a Mare trained by Bart Cummings at long odds of $41.00. Shortly after recovering from yet another injury break in 2011, she partnered Yosei to their third Group 1 victory together in Brisbane.
LISA CROPP - Former champion New Zealand jockey who relocated to Melbourne during the Spring Carnival of 2010. Winner of the New Zealand riding premiership three times in succession including a record 197 wins in the 2004-05 season, she was disqualified from racing for nine months in 2009 for drug use. Determined to put problems of the past behind her, made a strong early impression scoring multiple wins at the country and city tracks in her first month of riding in Australia. A hard worker who has ridden with success in Singapore, Japan and Macau, she is determined to make her mark in Melbourne.
CRAIG NEWITT - Beginning his career in his home state Tasmania in 2001, he was the state’s premier jockey while still an apprentice. 2002 joined Freedman in Victoria and become leading apprentice for the ‘02/’03 season. Career suffered a setback in 2004 when he was suspended from riding for 18 months after lying to stewards about his relationship with a bookmaker following his defeat on favourite Leone Chiara. Worked very hard upon returning to the saddle and hit new highs in 2007 as the rider of Miss Andretti, winning many Group 1 races around Australia and at Royal Ascot, including the Kings Stand over 1000m in record time. March 2009 bravely partnered Light Fantastic to win the Futurity Stakes at Caulfield just 30 minutes after learning his father Guy had been killed in a road accident. A very consistent jockey who gives his horses every chance to win and often well supported in the Melbourne Jockeys Challenge.
GLEN BOSS - After an apprenticeship in country Queensland, Glen moved to the Gold Coast until 1994. After early success, he moved to Sydney and quickly established himself as safe pair of hands with the local trainers. He has a reputation for being a Group One Jockey, making trips to most states for the Carnivals and famously winning consecutive Melbourne Cups sitting on the back of the only racehorse to ever to win 3 in a row - Makybe Diva in 2003/04/05. Now based in Melbourne, he won the 2009 Cox Plate on So You Think for Bart Cummings and he continues to excel on major race days.
KERRIN MCEVOY - Kerrin was born and raised in Streaky Bay S.A. in a racing family, beginning his apprenticeship with his grandfather Bill Holland. In 1998 he transferred to Russell Cameron and then to Peter Hayes at Lindsay Park in Adelaide before completing his apprenticeship at Flemington. After obtaining his full licence he went freelance and won the 2000 Melbourne Cup win on Brew. His impressive winning record including Victorian Jockey Premiership 2002/03 led to his joining the powerful worldwide Godolphin/Darley Racing Organisation, first in Dubai and then in the U.K. He has been appointed top rider for Darley in Australia. A serious race fall in 2010 meant a break from racing, but he recovered in time to resume riding in the Melboourne Spring Racing Carnival.
COREY BROWN - Corey has had a roller coaster career. Early in his apprenticeship he was faced with a horse breaking down in front of him and, unable to avoid it, became part of the accident. A jockey died and Corey was affected to the point of almost giving up. But, he carried on, riding for a short time in Hong Kong before restarting his career back in Sydney. He was premier jockey in 2001/02 and ranked amongst the top riders in Australia. On a flying visit to Melbourne November 2009 he won three of the four major Cup Carnival races - the Victoria Derby on Monaco Consul, the Melbourne Cup on Shocking and the Emirates Stakes on All American
MICHAEL RODD - Born in Manly, he started his apprenticeship at age 16 as a carpenter. Finding the job hard for someone of his stature and noting the helpful suggestions from co-workers that as a carpenter he would make a good jockey, he went to a racing stable for a look and decided to give it a shot. Won his first race at Grafton in 2000 and was champion apprentice in NSW four years straight. As a top senior jockey, he was set to ride favourite Maldivian in the 2007 Caulfield Cup when the horse was a shock late scratching after becoming injured in the stalls before the race. He went on to win the Melbourne Cup that year on Efficient and rode Maldivian the following year to win the 2008 Cox Plate.
NASH RAWILLER - Nash’s father was a jockey, his brother Brad is a highly respected senior rider and little sister Stacy is a promising apprentice. Nash is one of the tallest jockeys in Australia, health problems relating to maintaining a low weight almost ended his career early. His lowest riding weight is 55kg, but this is no impediment now as he is in the top echelon of senior Australian jockeys. He is currently a stable jockey at Gai Waterhouse’s Tulloch Lodge. Now based in Sydney, he has one of the highest strike rates in the country and is always a popular pick with the punters in the Jockey Challenge.
CRAIG WILLIAMS - 16yr. old Craig began his apprenticeship with his father Alan, a former jockey turned trainer, in 1993 and rode his first winner, Pride of Demus, at Ballarat the same year. Gained his full licence in ’97 and won his first Group 1 at Morphettville in 2000. Moved to the U.K. riding for many top stables until going to Hong Kong to ride for David Hayes for 3 years. When Hayes returned to Flemington, Craig moved with him, securing 3 Jockey Premierships (2005-2007) and also the World Super Jockey Series in 2007. A highly professional senior jockey, Craig is now freelance and successfully rides in all states and internationally.
DAMIEN OLIVER -Damien's father Ray was a successful jockey in Western Australia, following in his footsteps led Damien to be the leading apprentice in Perth in the 88/89 season. In Melbourne, he established himself with the powerful Freedman stable early in his career. Now riding independently, he has won 6 Victorian Jockey Premierships and numerous Group 1s. In 2002, Damien became a part of Melbourne Cup history winning on the Dermot Weld trained Media Puzzle just days after his older brother Jason was tragically killed in a race fall. Maintaining a very high winning strike rate, he is one of Australia's most talented jockeys and often a favourite with the punters in the Jockey Challenge.
Australian Racing Report's independent guide to some of the top jockeys currently riding in Australia.
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LUKE NOLEN - Luke has made a triumphant comeback to racing after very serious injuries sustained in a race fall at Doomben in 2008. A Group One winning rider of the 2007 Cox Plate on El Segundo, it took him took a full year to return to racing in May 2009. The number one jockey for one of Victoria’s top trainers Peter Moody, his high conversion rate of winners means he is amongst Australia's leading jockeys. Winning his second Victorian Jockeys Premiership in 2011, Luke earned a permanent place in racing history as the main rider of Australia's star sprinter Black Caviar.
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