Brisbane jockey Ryan Wiggins has yet again been rewarded for his long-distance travel with a winning treble at Townsville on Wednesday.
Wiggins combined with Georgie Bourke for all three wins aboard two-year-old filly Gossiping Girl, North Queensland maiden Live The Moment and eight-year-old warhorse, Langhro.
Langhro has now won two races in North Queensland since relocating from Brisbane, but has also placed in both the Cleveland Bay and Cairns Newmarket behind bush champion Deadly Choices and All Star Mile nominee and cult hero, The Harrovian.
On Wednesday, the son of Langhro lugged 63.5kg over the 1400m on a Soft 6 and still proved too tough.
“He goes good, It was a big win yesterday,” Wiggins said.
“It wasn’t the hardest race in the world, but 63.5kg on a track that played a little bit leaderish [sic], where the leader started to get a little bit away from me, he did a good job to peg it back with that sort of weight.”
“He’s a tough old horse.”
Live The Moment was a dominant winner in an earlier race, making it his first win for the stable in North Queensland. Wiggins took the five-year-old gelding to the front which did not suit his pre-race tactics.
“It wasn’t my intention to lead, I was planning to sit in the one-one,” he said.
“It was a very weak race yesterday, he was entitled to put them away and with the way the rail played it was probably a big advantage being in front too.”
Gossiping Girl justified her short quote in the opener to win by a length, which pleased Wiggins.
“she’s been a good little buy for them,” he said.
“I said to them yesterday, her will to win definitely outweighs her ability.
“She’ll win a couple more races.”
The Platinum Velocity member didn’t hang around in Townsville, hopping straight back on a plane home to ride at Eagle Farm on Thursday and then at Doomben on Saturday, where he has a nice book of rides for good supporters of his.
Jorgensen Racing, a group of friends from Cairns, book Wiggins on a regular basis to represent the red, yellow and blue, and Saturday will be no different with Wiggins aboard all three of their runners, Derulo, North Afrika and Inquiry.
North Afrika looks the best of those three, with Wiggins believing that a drying track will bring him right into contention. The flashy chestnut is looking to make it three straight wins in a 2000m Benchmark 80 where he is a $5 equal favourite.
“To be honest, last start I thought he was probably getting to the end of it, but it was probably his best win so far,” Wiggins said.
“The horse keeps surprising me and I think he keeps surprising Johnny (Smerdon) too.
“As long as the track doesn’t get too wet, he’s had two goes at Doomben now and without winning been okay and a couple of times been average. Just as long as their running on top of the ground, he’ll run very well.”
The 38-year-old has been riding racehorses since he was 16, and was rewarded with his first Group 1 in 2014 aboard Famous Seamus in the BTC Cup.
He’s ridden 60 winners already this season at a 24 per cent strike-rate, and sits second in the Queensland Provincial Jockey Premiership.
