Tramore (NZ) (Shocking) has provided Adam Scott with his first winner as an owner and an amateur jockey over the past couple of years, and on Sunday at Woodville, he will take the reins also as her trainer in the Flair Amateur Riders (2100m).
Based out of Foxton, Scott has plenty of family ties to the industry with his uncle Andrew a multiple-Group One winning trainer, but it was the influence of his late grandfather Jack that set him on a path into racing.
“I used to get ex-racehorses to ride as a young kid and I wouldn’t say I had the worst experiences, but at the time, they were enough to terrify me a little bit so I stepped away from the horses for a while,” Scott said.
“I wanted to be an All Black for about five years but then I needed a job, so I eventually came back to the track and I started on the ground working for Chris Rauhihi, they were doing breakers and babies at the time.
“I purchased Tramore when I was about 18 and she initially was under my Grandad’s name, he helped educate me into riding her trackwork to begin with and got my confidence back up.”
The daughter of Shocking was Jack Scott’s final runner after he sadly passed in April of 2022, and six months later, Scott had an opportunity to ride her in the Amateur race at Woodville, resulting in a sentimental five-length victory.
“When Grandad passed away, I moved her on to Matt Dixon as he was local in Foxton, and then I got the opportunity to ride her myself one day and thankfully, she won,” he said.
“Having her has been a learning curve for me, I bought her for $400 and she’s part of the family now. I can’t say she’s made me plenty, but it’s hard to get rid of her because she gets me out of bed most mornings.
“It’s a bit like having a child in some ways, you have to be there to clean them and feed them and all the rest of it.”
Alongside preparing Tramore and being a consistent presence in the amateur series, Scott has a couple of other horses in his care, whilst being on hand to assist fellow trainers at the local course.
“I ride babies, breakers, pre-trainers, just anything that needs to be ridden,” he said.
“I’m pretty much freelance in Foxton to pay my own bills, I mainly ride for Matt Dixon and Chrissy Bambry.
“I do a lot more of the rougher ones for other people because we’re not blessed with very many riders here, and obviously the apprentices can’t really afford to get hurt riding young horses.
“I always wanted to have a go at training as well and I inherited a few horses from Grandad, so it was easier to do them myself then pay someone to do it.
“I’ve only really just got my license so I’m just fine-tuning and working out which will make the grade or not.
“I’ve got a nice Puccini that my Grandad bred out of Bella’s Delight that I think should be a nice staying type of mare in time, she’s just come back in work.”
Following the Woodville meeting, Scott has aspirations not only for Tramore, but also himself in the jumping role in the near future.
“She will probably be in for another month then she can go out and hopefully go jumping next year, I might even get my jumps license and have a go as well,” he said.
“We’ve just set up some jumps here in the last couple of weeks, I said to Stephen Nickalls and Sacha Rennie that I’d like to do some schooling because I wouldn’t mind doing one or two jump races just to say I’ve done it, and also be able to support the industry in a little way.”
