It was a good weekend for jockey Kyle Wilson-Taylor with notable wins at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday and at Grafton on Sunday as he quietly continues to widen his net of contacts in his search to create greater and better riding options … although the Grafton Cup Quality Prelude win aboard Full Press was a blast from the past, and a special one at that.
“Yeah, that was a very special win for me … obviously with (trainer) Brett Dodson being my old boss and Full Press being a horse I used to ride when he was a baby. He was my favourite horse to ride every day,” said Wilson-Taylor.
“To get a win on him and get him into the Grafton Cup (on July 18) was really good.”
To put that reunion in perspective, you have to go back a full four years to July 9, 2020, when Wilson-Taylor rode Full Press into third place on debut in the son of Press Statement’s only start as a two-year-old.
Wilson-Taylor also rode Full Press in his first two starts as a three-year-old in August 2020, but Sunday was a reunion of sorts being the first time that Wilson-Taylor got the leg up on Full Press in forty-eight months …and for the rider to get a win on his favourite horse of the past … well, there just could not have been a better result.
Wilson-Taylor’s Saturday win at the curtailed Sunshine Coast meeting came aboard the Anthony and Sam Freedman trained Punch Line … a result which again emphasised the reach that Wilson-Taylor is starting to have.
With the Brisbane Jockey’s room currently extremely competitive, you have to make the most of your opportunities and the fact that Wilson-Taylor won in his previous ride for the Anthony and Sam Freedman stable (aboard Ella’s World) gave him pole position to pick up the ride from Craig Williams who rode Punch Line at Carnival time last time out.
Just as it is in a race, it is all about positioning yourself to be in the right place at the right time.
The list of strong southern stables Wilson-Taylor has ridden for in recent months includes Bjorn Baker, Annabel Neasham and Danny O’Brien.
But growing his presence on the Australian racing scene has not been Wilson-Taylor’s only point of focus … and, yet again, as was his case with his first visit and first international riding experience in New Zealand (where he and Grail Dancer saluted in the Group 2 Wellington Guineas after Wilson-Taylor had made an approach to the Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott stable), Wilson-Taylor is trying to make things happen rather than waiting for things to happen.
Now Wilson-Taylor has managed to pencil in another overseas assignment, largely due to that same proactive approach that helped earn him a big day out in New Zealand.
That assignment is in Singapore … in the Singapore Derby on July 21.
“Robbie Fradd thought it would be a good idea to get a ride in Singapore before racing closes down there,” explained Wilson-Taylor, “and we put out there … to the Singapore trainers … that I wanted to come there (for the Derby).
“We had an iron in the fire, but things didn’t really eventuate straight away … so it didn’t look like we were going although I had voiced my ambition to go.
“Then a couple of people mentioned a horse that had won there (Great Warrior) and they said I should try and get on it … so, I did … and I managed to get on.”
While Wilson-Taylor concedes he had not thought beyond the Derby at this stage, but the way he works you would bet that he will plenty of feelers out while he is in Singapore to see where those contacts can lead … maybe to a ride in the one hundredth running of the Singapore Gold Cup on October 5 … the day that racing closes down for good in the country.
What an historic win that would be for whoever has that winning ride, but that will be a story for another time.
For now, let’s leave it at the fact that, as stated at the outset, Wilson-Taylor quietly continues to widen his net of contacts in his search to create greater and better riding options.
Whatever he is doing … it is working!
