Success aboard grand winter campaigner Justaskme in Saturday’s Listed AGC Training Stakes at Wanganui could provide leading jockey Jonathan Riddell with one of the final highpoints of his illustrious career.
Leading into Saturday’s weight-for-age feature, for which Justaskme is a $3.20 favourite, Riddell has revealed he is considering his future in the saddle, conceding his time left as a jockey is coming to an end.
For a jockey who has excelled at the elite level of the sport, most notably winning 14 Group 1 races, including the New Zealand Derby and Rosehill Guineas on Jimmy Choux and finishing second on that horse in the 2011 Cox Plate, Riddell’s career has been accentuated by his tenacity through ongoing struggles with weight.
“I’m going on holiday in three weeks to the UK to see my mum. It will be a good chance to freshen up and I’ll think about it – whether I put myself through another year or whether I just pull stumps and be proud of what I’ve achieved,” Riddell said.
“One of things I’m most proud of is that the trainers I’m riding for now are the trainers I’ve ridden for since I started and that there’s been an enduring loyalty from both sides. Hopefully I’ve paid them back for the support they’ve given me and they’ve put me back for the support I’ve given them.”
A former accomplished jumps jockey, Riddell sits on 955 wins in New Zealand, the carrot of joining the exclusive 1000-win club perhaps enough to convince the 45-year-old hoop to keep riding for another 12 months.
“It’s a bit of a niggle more than anything. It was never an ambition of mine but since I got to 900, a few good mates have been riding me to get there. It’s started to annoy me a bit too,” Riddell said.
“Since I’ve got to less than 50 to go, I just don’t know. I’m not saying I’ll do it anyway. I’m just hanging in there at the moment. But I’m still earning a living out of it and enjoying it.
“I’ve only had one black-type success this season which is grinding me a bit. I’ve always prided myself on getting good results in the big races.
“Numbers-wise I’m down on previous seasons, but I haven’t travelled as much as I’ve done in the past and I’m enjoying that – not putting my body under so much pressure day in, day out and not doing so many miles on the road.”
Justaskme gives Riddell a terrific chance of adding to his black-type tally, the Allan Sharrock-trained eight-year-old set to relish his return to weight-for-age company, having won the AGC Training Stakes last year and finished second 12 months earlier.
“He was really good at Trentham last start. It wasn’t till I got him right out wide in the better going that he finished off really strongly. His last bit was really good,” Riddell said.
“He wasn’t as lazy as he’s been before. He’s never really gone that well for me in the past so for him to feel that good going into this race is pretty encouraging.
“He’s been so consistent through his career but he’s felt it at the top end of the handicaps as a result and that hasn’t helped him. But weight-for-age brings him right back into it.
“Allan is pretty bullish from his run the other day, especially going to weight-for-age. I expect he’ll improve naturally from the other day, as Allan’s do when he sets them for a race – and this is the race he’s been setting him for. You know the job is going to be done right.”
Riddell’s other key ride on the day is Wewillrock, a last-start Trentham runner-up who returns to the scene of his win two starts back for the TAB Odds Surge Every Race at Whanganui 1200.
“It wasn’t a bad run at Trentham. The big weight factor didn’t help and the winner got away with an easy run up front,” Riddell said.
“He’s a beautiful horse and just one of those horses that really grabs you. He’s not a world-beater but he’ll give you everything he has every time. And he’s beautiful to ride.
“Back to Wanganui, he won well there the other day. It’s often a horses for courses track, Wanganui.”
