There’s no racing in the Northern Territory this weekend, so veteran Darwin-based jockey Wayne Davis has headed to Queensland.
The ever-smiling 51-year-old will be riding at the six-race meeting at Winton in central west Queensland on Saturday where he will link up with leading Top End trainer Phil Cole.
Davis is the leading rider for the Cole stable where he will partner five-year-old mare It’s Pins, six-year-old mare Faith And Love, five-year-old gelding Andaman and six-year-old gelding Maxaway.
It’s Pins will line up in a 800m maiden, Faith And Love will feature in a Benchmark 65 Handicap (1000m), Andaman takes on opponents in a Class B Handicap (1200m) and Maxaway will lump 63kg in a Benchmark 45 Handicap (1400m).
All four gallopers make up the team of 11 that high-profile NT trainer Cole brought to Queensland, with It’s Pins, Faith And Love, Andaman and Maxaway performing with distinction at Betoota, Birdsville and Bedourie in the outback regions of the state to the south-west in the past three weeks.
Do Your Best, a six-year-old mare, is the third emergency for the Class B Handicap and is unlikely to compete against stablemate Andaman, while Davis has picked up two further rides aboard stablemates Street Cause and Quindi for Julia Creek trainer Tanya Parry.
Cole has posted eight winners thus far at Birdsville, who hosted two meetings on September 3 and 4, and at Bedourie, who raced last Saturday, so he has every reason to feel optimistic at Winton and at the Longreach meeting next weekend.
The in-form Saccharo, who won the Birdsville and Bedourie Cup, is set to start in the Longreach Cup (1600m) with Kronos, who won the feature sprint at Birdsville, eyeing the feature sprint over 1100m at Longreach.
Davis boarded a flight to Brisbane from Darwin on Thursday and then caught another flight to Longreach where he met up with Cole, along with wife Rhonda and daughter Chalie, before making the 180km trip north-west back to Winton.
The only Group 1 winning jockey in the NT rode for Cole on Conclurry Cup Day – 120km east of Mt Isa in north-west Queensland – in October last year and booted Faith And Love home to victory, so there’s every chance that jockey, trainer and horse could seal another win in Queensland at Winton on Saturday.
“I’ve arrived at the back end with Team Cole dead set flying with success at Betoota, Birdsville and Bedourie,” Davis said from Winton on Thursday.
“The horses are in tremendous form, especially Saccharo and Kronos, and the stable is going great.
“It’s exciting to be a part of Team Cole’s campaign here in Queensland – there’s no racing at Darwin until October 1 because of maintenance to the track.
“I’m now glad to be a part of it all over here and hopefully with an ounce of luck we can keep on keeping on.
“You’d do anything to be a part of it, so I had no hesitation making the trip for the Winton and Longreach meetings.
“I’m certainly looking forward to the races this weekend and next weekend – I can’t wait.”
Davis, who spent most of his career riding in Tasmania and Victoria, missed the start of the 2021/22 season because of injury following a fall in July last year, but still ended the Top End campaign with 15.5 winners and landed his fair share of winners in Alice Springs.
He has already ridden four winners this season following four meetings at Fannie Bay and the annual meeting at Katherine.
Speaking of Alice Springs, Davis rode his first winner of the season at Pioneer Park last Sunday when he piloted six-year-old gelding Sedona home for trainer Jess Gleeson, who has been caring for Cole’s horses in the Red Centre while he has been in Queensland.
It was an emotional occasion for Davis as Sedona achieved victory in the Vale Harry Lambley Benchmark 76 Handicap (1200m) – honouring the son of former longtime Alice Springs Turf Club chairman Craig Lambley, who was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident while holidaying in Greece in August.
The 23-year-old is also the son of long-serving NT politician Robyn Lambley, who is the independent member for Araluen.
Sedona was camped on the rails and was never far from the lead before heading to the middle of the track once turning for home to nail the Will Savage-trained Elixir (Stan Tsaikos) right on the line, with fast-finishing pair Bar Gem (Jessie Philpot) from the Greg Connor stable and Roughly (Casey Hunter) from the Leah Walling-Denton yard a whisker away in third and fourth place.
Less than half a length separated the four horses as they past the winning post.
“Everyone knows each other in Northern Territory racing – we’re all a close group and a tight knit family and a lot of us bounce off each other,” Davis said.
“The passing of Harry was heart-breaking and it’s an absolute tragedy to lose someone so young.
“With the Lambley family – everyone has an association with them.
“When the race was named in Harry’s honour I felt proud that I had the chance to ride in the race, but it was very emotional at the same time to win a race in his honour.
“To celebrate with the family after the race was a special moment.
“By all means Sedona did a great job by winning – it was a tough, hard and strong field and he came out the other end shining.
“He flew the flag high and went home a hero.”
As mentioned, Davis was involved in a fall in late July last year during the Darwin Cup Carnival that also claimed fellow jockeys Sonja Wiseman and Alice Lindsay, with all three riders suffering serious injuries.
Davis suffered fractured ribs and mild concussion, but just like Wiseman and Lindsay that nasty fall has been condemned to the past with all three individuals back riding fulltime.
“Early last season I was out for a couple of months due to that fall, but things picked up once I got on top of my injuries,” he said.
“With great support with Team Cole and great horses I was able to get back on top of things.
“It was amazing to be given the opportunity to slot back into the groove, but it took a lot of hard work.
“I’m associated with a great team – we’re one big happy family.
“All the horses are very happy and they’re going great guns – a happy horse is a fast horse.
“Onwards and upwards, hopefully we’ll keep on keeping on.
“No complaints, everyone is on top of the world.”
It’s unlikely you’ll ever see a jockey celebrate a win so passionately, but Davis will be the first to admit that life as a jockey doesn’t last forever and he continues to enjoy his time in the saddle.
“You never knock back opportunities,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter where you race as long as you’ve got the chance to be competitive.
“If you’ve got the opportunity to be a major player you never knock that back because when you do you’ll always miss them and if you miss them they’re gone – you take what you can when you can.
“You also take one race meeting at a time and when you arrive at the races on game day it’s all worth it.
“That’s what it’s all about – giving your horse every chance and with an ounce of luck you can have some joy on the day.”
More horse racing news
