NYAH West apprentice jockey Madison Lloyd hung on to win the prestigious final of the RMBL Investments Rising Stars series at Flemington on Saturday.
Riding outsider Delicious Tycoon, which paid $15.70 for the victory, Lloyd must have had her heart in the mouth when she was almost caught in a barnstorming finish by Defiant Diva.
One step from the line Lloyd and Delicious Tycoon were a bob behind but the last step gave her four-year-old mare the time she needed to out-bob the Diva next door.
After getting an easy ride for most of the race’s 1600m, Lloyd hit the front on the last turn and as they straightened to run the 450-plus metres down the Flemington straight, she stole a break on the field and went for home alone.
Halfway along the straight it was a case of put down your glasses before, out of nowhere, fellow apprentice Tayla Childs found the afterburner switch on Defiant Diva and the chase was on.
Delicious Tycoon looked as though she was running in thick molasses, and in the final metres Lloyd rose in her saddle and looked to her right to see if she could hang on.
According to the race-day photo finish camera, she did, despite giving backers a heart attack.
Trainer Matt Laurie said he didn’t give Lloyd any specific instructions before the race.
“I pretty much gave her free rein,” Laurie said.
“I thought we would be first, second or third pair but look, she rode her really well, rated her perfectly, and she went to sleep and I’m just glad the post came up when it did.”
Speaking after the race, Lloyd said she jumped out well.
“They had said to let her run for the first 100 metres and then try and get her to relax as well as you can,” Lloyd said.
“But she just landed there, I was able to perch on her neck and she came back underneath me beautifully – it was just sort of a sit and steer job really.
“I thought when we hit the line that my horse had the right bob but I didn’t want to be the one who said that, I wasn’t too sure.”
Keeping the spotlight shining on local talent, Swan Hill rider Harry Coffey also racked up another win – this time on Friday in Geelong.
He took out the $37,500 Attvest Finance Plate over 1200m with debutant Batrana, out of the McEvoy stables. Just.
The margins must have been a tobacco paper and a bee’s wing as Batrana, Meg’s Magic and Furosshi hit the line with the same stride.
“It was a nice win, she showed some real grit late, when she was fighting off that other horse,” Coffey said.
“And often when you see that, with horses getting momentum down the outside, they get the bob, but she just had so much determination to get the job done.
“She really stuck her head out and found the line – a great effort, albeit we had a really nice run and the luck fell our way.
“This is a lovely bred filly being trained in the right hands, and obviously a pretty high-profile owner (Dubai’s Sheikh al Maktoum) will be rapt to get a nicely-bred filly to win on debut – so it’s a great result all round.”
Coffey said it had been nice to get out at Ballarat, where several of his recent winners are based, and do trackwork in the morning.
He said he had also been doing “a bit of work” for the McEvoys at their stables there, and a couple of other trainers also jumped on the idea of getting bush-based riders for trackwork.
“When I started out as a young apprentice I did a lot of work for McEvoys in Adelaide and as a claiming kid, we had a lot of luck in Morphettville so it’s nice to get the relationship back going, and so far it has been pretty good.”
Coffey was at 92 winners for the 2022-23 season but had just 13 days left to find eight more winners for consecutive 100-win years.
