Hoops Creating Their Own Champion Luck

There was an era when Andrew Adkins, so good riding Diamond Diesel in the Civic Handicap on Red Wednesday at Warwick Farm, would have been semaphored a “chalk jockey”.

Once riders were not announced until race day and signified on a jockey board at the racecourse with their name stencilled in bold letters, those who didn’t get much action in town had a version printed with unsteady hand in crayon.

Perhaps a downgrade, but Adkins glowed on Red Wednesday so tagged because so many hotpots, short priced favourites, were beaten, most involving James McDonald, who rates capital letters wherever he rides.

Adkins gets limited opportunities in town now despite being the top Sydney apprentice in 2016-17. Even today with 11 Rosehill races, mainly big fields, he will be plying his trade at Newcastle.

This raises the question? The difference between a hoop who gains “champion” status and one like Adkins, who delivers a good outcome when given the opportunity, the situation with Diamond Diesel, a sprinter superbly tuned by Adam Duggan at Gosford.

Adkins had to weave through a bumping and bustling field on Diamond Diesel, anything but a ride in the park, anticipated by JMac’s three beaten favourites: Tarpaulin ($1.80), Gramm ($2.25), and Setombe ($1.70). It could have been worse. JMac was booked for Kerguelen ($1.65) but developed a “stitch”, later diagnosed as the very painful gallstones, and ended up in hospital leaving Zac Lloyd, fresh from the Stradbroke success on Stefi Magnetica, in the beaten hotseat.

With Group wins this season totalling $55.5 million, according to Best Bets, JMac was scheduled to ride C’est Magique against Bella Nipotina in the Tatt’s Tiara at Eagle Farm today, but has been replaced by Blake Shinn, by no means a chalk jockey.

Wise guys have opined there is only a half-length difference in a race ride between the good and great in the saddle. When posed the question that some don’t the opportunities their ability deserves, the advice of Tommy Smith reverberates. “Give me one you can put on five favourites and get five good rides, not necessarily winners and he’s my stable jockey”.

Writing in “Winning Post” Matt Stewart described me as a “jockey bagger”. Sure, I don’t make excuses for a bad effort, “had no luck” bleat. Yes, circumstances can play a role. Riding for luck? That’s waiting for something to happen to benefit the navigator. Great jockeys, JMac is one and so, too, is Blake Shinn, make their own luck.

Ernest Hemingway had a penchant for matadors, Joselito (Jose Gomez Ortega) for one. Hemingway saw artistry in despatching a bull by rapier. Every remarkable ride by a hoop, the sense of timing, the balance, the connection between brain and hands, in difficult situations that Adkins overcame on Diamond Diesel is awesome to my eye.

Matadors had to conquer wayward bulls but hardly had the risk to life and limb so often as jockeys. And none faced our great Braham bull Chainsaw, who would have tested their tight britches getting over the nearest fence.

Alas I do lose badly. Stewart relayed it as “grumpy”. Going back to my tabloid days on “The Sun” I instituted the Dick Fellows Award for the worst ride of the week.

Jockeys were getting kudos galore so this catered for sour and embittered punters. Dick Fellows was an American outlaw with no affinity with horses. He robbed a bank and jumped onto a waiting steed only for the saddle to slip. On breaking out of goal on another occasion he ran to a nearby paddock, leapt aboard only to be ditched because the horse had been placed to graze due to a bellyful of loco weed.

So what will Tatt’s Tiara produce today? Bella Nipotina is a certainty on weights and measures due to the conditions of the race. She’s a worthy rival for our best sprinters. If today’s engagement was a handicap like the Stradbroke, in which she was such a good second last start, she would be conceding kilos to the opposition.

Apart from three-year-olds she meets the older mares on level terms. Bella Nipotina has drawn 17, a negative. Best Bets stressed she is the “class runner and with a touch of luck (good ride) is still the one to beat”. Now a six-year-old with 51 starts on her scorecard Bella Nipotina has had a torrid and demanding campaign, and being favourite shy, I’ll gamble against her.

C’Est Magique beat mainly moderate rivals at Eagle Farm last start. “Made her own luck” under JMac according to Best Bets. Blinkers and second start after a spell from which she has notched three placings previously gives me the impression Chris Waller has targeted the Tiara. In the absence of JMac, I would have been comfortable with Adkins taking over, but delighted to have Blake Shinn.