NYAH West jockey Madison Lloyd at the weekend tore up tracks in two states, in two days, to land two city doubles.
On Saturday she jetted into Adelaide to ride the evergreen Frankie Pinot in the $500,000 Goodwood, her first shot at a Group 1.
To make the trip worthwhile, the 22-year-old apprentice, now based in Ballarat, was booked on Aston Rapova in the second of the day at Morphettville.
Then, out of the blue, a local apprentice with a ride in the first had to pull out of the meeting for family reasons and Lloyd was offered a pickup.
Incredibly, 2028m later, Lloyd and Silent Surrente were five lengths clear in the $55,000 Carbine Club of SA and she had landed another city winner in a race she assumed she would only be watching.
In the next, Lloyd hopped on Aston Rapova in the $55,000 Skycity Handicap (1050m) and fought out a ding-dong duel as she and Damien Oliver (on Metro Legend) charged to the line.
Lloyd’s horse bobbed its head at exactly the right moment, and she had won the first two on the card – and her famous megawatt grin lit up Morphettville for the locals.
“When we landed we found ourselves one out and one back, which worked really well for us because usually we have ended up a bit further back in the field,” Lloyd said.
“There wasn’t a lot of pace in the second race, and as he was handier we peeled out about the 400m mark and went for home.
“Ollie (Damien Oliver) never makes it easy to get past him, but she really dug in today and went for it (to win by a lip as her horse’s head went down and Metro Legend’s went up).”
Lloyd’s first Group 1 ride could not sustain the momentum unfortunately, with the six-year-old gelding Frankie Pinot burnt off by the early pace, although he made up considerable ground in the straight to finish ninth in the 16-horse field.
But the jockey had no time to despair, she was on Sunday headed for Sandown Lakeside, where she was booked for just two rides.
And she won them both.
First up was the $55,000 Ladbroke Hub (2100m) with KhoeKhoe (pronounced Qway Qway obviously, from a language spoken in the Kalahari).
The well-supported topweight jumped cleanly and by the end of the first 200m, Lloyd had him in front – where he stayed.
It was a gutsy ride, but not as gutsy as the last few hundred metres down the straight as the challenges came from both sides.
Lloyd threw everything but the kitchen sink at the field before KhoeKhoe found his second wind and bolted away for an amazing 3.5 length victory.
Trainer Matt Cumani said much of the success went to Lloyd, who he said had become something of a go-to rider for the quirkier horses in his stables, because she seems to have a “rare” gift of connecting with them and getting them to perform at their best.
Cumani said the horse, which he described as “a bit complicated”, had cost him some of his hair since it was purchased as a $50,000 yearling (and has now won $900,000).
“Madison had a great day in Adelaide … and for me she has developed this real knack with complicated horses, so she is gaining those sorts of rides and she is brilliant on them,” he said.
“She’s got great hands, and she understands exactly the balance and how to ride them, and she has shown that again today.”
Three races later, in her only other ride, she saddled 10-to-one shot Naboo Star in the Ladbrokes Communities over 1600m
Content to sit wide and well back in the field as the horses straightened for the run home, Lloyd let Naboo Star explode down the centre of the track, catching the leader at the 100m mark before finishing almost four lengths clear.
Trainer Ben Hayes said he warned her before the race Naboo Star “might try, or might not”.
He said Lloyd got on very well with the horse and won on him previously in Adelaide “and this has been his most impressive win and we are very thrilled”.
Echoing his, and Cumani’s comments, Lloyd agreed Naboo Star could be a handful.
“When I won on him previously at Morphettville, he wouldn’t go amongst them, but as soon as I peeled him out he let down really well, so Ben said today to make sure I was outside of horses,” Lloyd said.
“He was very comfortable running three deep, and when we got onto the corner I just growled at him and he responded really well,” she laughed.
That win has taken Lloyd to 28 winners for the season, with two months (and a week) still to go, compared with her 21 winners for all of the 2021-22 season.
