Taylor swift to make mark
TALENTED teenage apprentice Taylor Johnstone wanted to be a jockey ever since she can remember and in Launceston on Wednesday, she realised her dream when she celebrated her first winner.
Johnstone partnered highly rated gelding Dark Wanderer to a comfortable victory in the feature race of the night.
Johnstone, who is apprenticed to Team Wells and is based at Brighton with Leon Wells, had only a handful of rides leading up to the meeting but delivered arguably the ride of the night to secure victory on the Sarah Cottontrained gelding.
Dark Wanderer was firstup from a spell and went into the race without a trial under his belt and looked slightly burly in the mounting yard, but Johnstone had the lightly raced six-year-old settled in the one-out-one-back position soon after the start.
Johnstone eased her charge off the leaders’ heels and once balanced, the gelding powered home to score by a length from the fast-finishing Boom Dot Com, with the heavily backed Le Cadeau ($5 into $3.30 fav) a luckless third.
Johnstone, 18, was elated and said the feeling of winning lived up to expectations.
“It’s just an absolute crazy feeling to be able to get out there and do that. I just can’t believe it,” Johnstone said.
“The plan was if he jumped well, we would try to lead but if we couldn’t (lead) we would try and slot in somewhere handy and I was able to land him in fourth spot with some cover.
“I just let him travel and once we got around the leaders, I just pushed him out to the line. I just want to thank my boss (Leon Wells) and the team in Devonport (Trent and Dean Wells) because they have helped me so much and there are many others who have assisted me along the way, and they know who they are.”
Leon Wells described his apprentice as a natural talent.
“Taylor has very good hands and great balance and most of all she has a very good racing brain for someone so young and inexperienced,” Leon Wells said.
Cotton also heaped praise on the young rider who was keen to secure the ride on Dark Wanderer.
“I’ve known Taylor (Johnstone) ever since she arrived at Leon’s stable and I am rapt that she has been able to win her first race on one of my horses,” Cotton said.
“She’s ridden this horse to perfection and no senior rider could have ridden him any better.”
Johnstone began riding when she was a toddler and becoming a jockey has been her dream since late primary school.
“I started riding when I was three and before my teens, I wanted to be a jockey and to get the opportunity to come into this industry is a real thrill,” Johnstone said.
“It was a crazy good feeling and like nothing I’ve ever felt before and I almost cried when we hit the line.”
Cotton was delighted with her horse’s effort and said his future program will depend on how he comes through this first-up assignment, but the Newmarket Handicap is an option.