Multiple career options working well for Bradley

For 18 months veteran jockey Darryl Bradley was stuck on 99 career black-type victories, wondering if the century would come up.

Now, he’s won three of them in seven weeks, all while maintaining his job as the track manager at Foxton racecourse.

It was Mohaka who finally gave Bradley his 100th black-type win when leading all the way in the Feilding Gold Cup (2100m) on October 31, and since then he’s guided veteran Hunta Pence to victories in the Listed Wanganui Cup (2040m) on November 20 and the Group 3 Manawatu Cup (2300m) last Saturday.

Bradley, 54, said the victories reflect nothing more than getting on the right horse.

“People have said ‘you’re riding well at the moment’ but I’m not riding any differently. It’s just circumstances — I have been on good horses at the right time and given them the right rides,” he said.

“But it can be a snowballing effect. People like a jockey that’s winning, and winning creates better opportunities.”

Bradley was one of the country’s most consistent riders for many years. He rode at least 40 winners for 26 out of 27 seasons from 1989-90 to 2015-16, the one exception coming when he spent most of 2000-01 outside New Zealand.

But things dropped away suddenly after 2015-16, and he hasn’t ridden more than 15 winners in any season since then.

It was during this lean spell that Bradley began thinking about career options away from riding. He began assisting Awapuni course manager Barry Bambry, and when the Foxton track manager’s position came up two years ago, Bambry told him to get on the phone as quickly as possible. “I’m absolutely loving it here. It’s a very, very good club to work for,” he said.