Oliver claims Scobie
CHAMPION jockey Damien Oliver underlined his longevity with his ninth win in the Scobie Breasley Medal — 22 years after he won the inaugural award in 1996.
Oliver said he was surprised to win the award.
“It’s a little bit of a shock. I didn’t have a great start after not having a great spring,” he said.
“I managed to turn it around with a successful autumn.”
Oliver said he needed to reset after being suspended too many times over spring.
“I worked hard over the Christmas and New Year period and that set me up for a good autumn.”
Oliver, 46, said he still had the motivation to continue riding with a young family, being challenged by the younger jockeys and he loved riding good horses.
“I’m looking forward to spring with great mounts such as Grunt, Seabrook and Vega Magic.”
Oliver polled 54 votes and was a runaway 10-vote winner of the medal which was announced at a vote ceremony held at The Park, Albert Park yesterday.
He won from Melbourne jockeys’ premiership winner Craig Will- iams on 44 votes. Third was Damian Lane on 36 but he didn’t leave empty-handed as he won one of the two new awards, ‘The Most Valuable Jockey’ which was voted on by his peers.
Apprentice jockeys Ethan Brown and Ben Allen filled fourth and fifth spots with 34 votes and 29 votes respectively. Neither apprentice was born when Oliver won his first premiership in 1996.
Oliver has won nine of the 23 Scobie Breasley medals and this was his first since 2015, Oliver’s other wins have been in 1996, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2014 and 2015.
The medal is based on a 3-2-1 voting system awarded by the stewards at the end of each meeting.
Oliver polled on 26 occasions and collected nine three votes including Australian Guineas day which he won on Grunt.
Irish trainer Joseph O’Brien won the Fred Hoysted Medal for the outstanding training performance for the 2017-2018 with Rekindling winning the Melbourne Cup, beating Chris Waller, who trained Winx to a third Cox Plate, with 94 votes.
Wodonga trainer Craig Widdison won the Colin Alderson Rising Star Award for trainers under 40.
Irish jumps jockey Martin Kelly won the Tommy Corrigan Medal.