Apprentice’s $2m Sydney Stakes surprise
KYLE Wilson-Taylor went to the Queensland Racing Awards to be crowned champion Brisbane apprentice but was stunned when he came away with another huge prize – a ride in a $2m Sydney race.
Wilson-Taylor had no idea when he went to the awards ceremony at Brisbane’s City Hall on Sunday night that David Vandyke was plotting to send nippy sprinter Weona Smartone south to race in the $2m Sydney Stakes on Everest Day on Saturday.
Weona Smartone is partowned by Bob Jones who also part-owns Vandyke’s Group 1 Queensland Oaks winner Gypsy Goddess.
Wilson-Taylor has ridden both with success.
“I found out that I’d be riding in Sydney for the first time – and in a two million-dollar race – on that night of the awards,” Wilson-Taylor said.
“Bob Jones is one of Weona Smartone’s owners, he is also one of the main owners of Gypsy Goddess, and I have had plenty of luck for the owners and David (Vandyke) has been a great supporter of mine.
“I went up to congratulate them when Gypsy Goddess won 3YO Horse of the Year and Mr Jones asked what I would be doing this coming Saturday.
“He asked if I would go to Sydney, I said ‘bloody oath I would’.”
Riding on Everest Day will be a massive career moment for Wilson-Taylor who has shown remarkable drive to rise up from his days of couch surfing as a youngster.
It will be his first taste of riding at Randwick and easily the biggest crowd he has ridden in front of. But he’s not daunted.
“I’m not going to over-complicate things. I know this horse and have confidence in this horse,” he said.
“It’s going to be a wet track. “I watched the races there last week and the fence was a good place to be, so I don’t mind my barrier draw (1).
“This horse will make his own luck … you’ve just got to let him do his thing. I honestly think my bloke is a chance, although obviously it is the toughest race he has faced.
“He is only the odds he is ($26) because he is a Queensland horse and he’s not proven down there in Sydney, but he’s a very talented galloper.”