Partner prompts Pike to travel
WILLIE Pike is living the life as the ultimate fly-in, fly-out jockey but the farm boy and noted homebody may never have left his home state without a prod from his partner.
The Wizard of the West has scored four prized Victorian Group 1s this season and has this week jetted to the Gold Coast to partner 2020 Australian Cup winner Fifty Stars in the Group 2 Hollindale Stakes on Saturday.
But chances he would have remained at home riding in the West – and spending time tending to cows and fixing fences on his 525ha farm in Beaufort River about two hours southeast of Perth – if it wasn’t for his partner Jessica Valas.
Pike, 35, was concerned he would desperately miss his partner and kids Jett, 10, and Aspen, 8, and his familiar home life.
But Valas, a former jockey turned trainer, convinced him to seize the moment.
“That’s how it mostly unfolded. I am probably happier at home and the little extra push from Jess is what made me go away and spend several months in Melbourne,” Pike said while walking along a Gold Coast beach with his family on Thursday.
“The stint I did away in Melbourne was mainly off the back of Jess saying to me, ‘you have to go’
“I’ve had a really good run and I’m grateful but are trainers going to want to have me as a fly-in, fly-out jockey in the future? I don’t know so I probably have to make the most of it while I can.”
While the Gold Coast is
known for its nightclubs and party atmosphere, Pike won’t be going anywhere near the famed Surfers Paradise nightclub strip while he is here.
“Back Pike, Drink What You Like” has become a famous racing catchphrase but the jockey himself rarely touches alcohol.
When Pike was an apprentice, he swore to his master Jack Cockell that he would never drink or smoke and he has remained true to that vow apart from perhaps a once-ayear drink.
“When I was in high school we did plenty of camping and drinking on weekends and being clowns,” Pike said.
“But it just never really took my fancy and I was talking to my boss one day and I promised him I would never smoke or drink.
“I’ve stayed away from it since, me having a drink would be a once-a-year thing.”
Valas, who was apprenticed to trainer Lindsey Smith in the mid-2000s when her relationship with Pike began, was keen to convince Pike to spread his wings and ride interstate when opportunities presented.
“I’m a bit of a homebody myself but being a jockey can be a limited profession, you don’t know how long you are going to be riding for,” she said.