FIRST win as an apprentice jockey aboard De Mars on his home track at Kerang on Boxing Day 2011.
Tick.
Rising Star winner as an apprentice jockey.
Tick.
Outriding his apprentice claim way ahead of schedule.
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First Group 1 winner.
Tick.
Melbourne Cup winner.
Tick.
Victorian metro jockey champion.
Tick.
So why is Koondrook’s superstar jockey Jye McNeil so ticked off?
COVID, of course.
Because the track superstar decided to add international jockey to his repertoire by taking on one of the toughest markets of them all: Hong Kong (although he had ridden in South Korea as part of the Victorian jockey’s apprenticeship program).
His primary aim in Hong Kong was to ride the International Jockeys’ Championship (IJC) at Happy Valley, but despite his best efforts at isolation he still caught the virus on an island last month awash with COVID.
But there was some compensation – on December 18 McNeil booted home the Australian-bred Excellent Fighter for trainer Ricky Yiu Poon-fai in the Class Three Lukfook Jewellery Diapure Handicap over 1000m.
McNeil’s dream to ride the IJC lives on, but in the interim his career passport has its latest entry: winning international jockey.
Tick.
Back in Australia on December 23 with wife Jess and son Oakley (neither caught COVID), McNeil squeezed in a family Christmas at home in Kerang before packing the caravan and heading to South Australia for a ‘recharging’ of his business batteries ahead of a return to local tracks.
His return started this week, with McNeil reporting for trackwork yesterday morning and planning to be racing again on Thursday or Friday.
“The whole Hong Kong thing was a great experience,” McNeil said.
“Victoria is definitely home, with our families here, but that doesn’t rule out returning to Hong Kong, maybe for a longer stint – we’ll just leave our options open for that.
“When we arrived there we were staying at Sha Tin itself, trying to keep as far away from COVID as possible, but I tested positive just before the IJC, which had been the whole point of the trip there,” he said.
“So, yes, it was pretty disappointing, and the way we were living to stay away from the virus meant there wasn’t much to do even though there are plenty of things to fill your day if you are free to get out and about – especially shopping. There seemed to be a multi-storey shopping complex on every corner.
“But there just weren’t the crowds for which Hong Kong is so well known; COVID has really disrupted life there and kept people off the street.”
However, IJC aside, McNeil quickly made his presence felt on the local scene, picking up rides and getting the attention – and support – of trainers Jamie Richards and Ricky Yiu Poonfai.
Excellent Fighter was McNeil’s first favourite in more than 40 rides during his truncated campaign.
But it was a ride with which he was very happy and which proved a point to locals: “It showed I can ride well enough if I get the right horses.
“That first win took a lot longer than I was hoping, but it isn’t easy breaking into Hong Kong in such a short stay, and it was great to be in the winner’s stall, especially with Ricky Yui, who offered me a lot of support during my short stint there.
“Oddly enough, Excellent Fighter was one of the horses I rode on my first day.
“It feels as though I’ve been part of the team to prepare him.
“It’s made it extra special.
“He gave me a great deal in the two trials I was able to ride him down the straight.
“My only concern coming here was he can step slow from the barriers, which he did do.
“But, thankfully, we were able to get clear room over the final furlong and he showed a great turn of foot, which was fantastic.”
McNeil said the trip was “a great learning curve” and he met a lot of new people, learnt a lot of new things and, most importantly, made a lot of contacts.
Jockeys in Hong Kong organise their own rides – there are no agents/ managers – so that means being seen around the stables, being seen in races and doing a lot of networking so people know you are there.
At the same time as he was fighting to land that first winner, McNeil said he found time to look on with amazement at the domination of Australian expatriate jockey Zac Purton, the number one hoop in the pressure-cooker world that is Hong Kong racing.
“He rides a lot of winners and is in demand all the time and shows what can be achieved there,” McNeil said.
“Apart from horses running the opposite direction to Victoria, the big difference is the speed of the whole industry.
“There is so much happening and everything happens fast; it’s a lot faster and more demanding than home.”
But he wasn’t in a totally unfamiliar world – names in races certainly had that hometown feeling, with Jamie Kah, Hugh Bowman, James McDonald and even Damian Lane (who dropped in from Japan to pick up a win) all riding there at various points during McNeil’s six-week visit.
Trip one might have been more a reconnoitring mission as there’s no way the 27-year-old McNeil is turning his back on future visits – he’s just not sure when.
“Right now I’ve got to get back into the local racing scene but the opportunity to head off to Hong Kong again at some time is always there.”
FOOTNOTE: And while the McNeil clan were taking a break post Hong Kong (and Christmas Day), a strong contingent of Swan Hill trainers descended on Kerang for its Boxing Day meeting.
Nathan Hobson, Jane Duncan, Heath Chalmers, Con Kelly and Noel Watson floated a small army of horses to the six-race picnic meeting.
In the first, they finished Hobson, Watson, Kelly (in second, third and eighth).
In the second Hobson flying solo managed fifth.
Jane Duncan led the charge to no wins in the third, with her Wasabi running fourth and Nathan Hobson well adrift in eighth.
With the fourth to himself, Hobson managed a fourth – much better than his ninth in the same run.
Then in the fifth, Jane Duncan finished a frustrating seventh in the field of nine. However, finally, in the sixth and last, Noel Watson saddled Tony’s Kick and landed a winner while Con Kelly’s End of Day ended his day in sixth.
