Four years ago, jockey Declan Bates faced a crossroads. After a solid career as a jumps jockey in his native Ireland, he had chanced his hand on the flat in the United Kingdom, where he was consistent but largely anonymous.
Ready for a change of scenery, he and his then partner (now wife) Jennifer could return back to Ireland where Bates could make a living and hope to find himself on a good horse one day. Or they could decide to take a bit of a risk and head to the other side of the world.
Twelve months earlier, Declan and Jennifer had travelled to Australia for the wedding of Bates' old friend Shane Jackson, who had come to Warrnambool as a jumps jockey a couple of years prior.
The seaside town of 30,000 appealed to the young couple and when Bates told Jackson he was considering his next move, Jackson was adamant he and Jennifer should head to Australia, where Bates had ridden before as part of the 2012 Irish-Australia jumps series.
Declan Bates
"It was a bit of a crossroads moment, we were either going to move back to Ireland or maybe move out here and in the end we decided this was the move," Bates told TDN AusNZ.
"I literally had no expectations. We came out here just thinking that we might stay six months and travel around a little bit, go around the country and head back. But we came to Warrnambool and settled straight in and haven't left here since because we loved it."
"We came to Warrnambool and settled straight in and haven't left here since because we loved it." - Declan Bates
They arrived on September 21, 2015 and four years later to the day, Bates celebrated the biggest success of his career aboard Begood Toya Mother (Myboycharlie {Ire}) in the G1 Sir Rupert Clarke S. for his greatest supporter, trainer Daniel Bowman.
The scenes in the Caulfield mounting yard on Saturday were the embodiment of much that is great about the sport of thoroughbred racing. Begood Toya Mother, a $28,000 yearling, raced by 55 bit-part owners, including almost every member of Bowman's family, had won the first Group 1 race for both his trainer and his jockey.
Begood Toya Mother connections
Bates is as pleased to be a part of that shared success as he is for realising his own ambition of becoming a Group 1 winner.
"It’s been such a great ride with him all the way through. He's really created a buzz around town. Every time you talk to someone down here, they are a part owner, or a friend of an owner," he said.
"I'm just happy really. It's pretty nice waking up this morning, I'm not sure it's sunk in yet, but it’s a pretty good feeling."
Growing up on horseback
Bates' journey to becoming a Group 1 winning jockey began in Wexford, where it was his brother Micheal who paved the way.
"We always had ponies at home and my brother got into racing before me. He was a jumps jockey back home and I followed him into the sport," he said.
"We always had ponies at home and my brother got into racing before me. He was a jumps jockey back home and I followed him into the sport." - Declan Bates
"I started out as a jumps jockey in Ireland and had a bit of success but I was always pretty light, so I tried flat racing and moved to the UK for a few years. I was getting on okay, but it wasn't taking off the way I wanted it to, I was earning a living and that was it really," he said.
In 2013, he rode a Mark Johnston-trained 2-year-old by Authorized (GB) to a maiden victory at Ffos Las. The horse was called Hartnell (GB), who is now of course a four-time Group 1 winner in Australia, and up until Saturday, that win was Bates' biggest claim-to-fame as a jockey.
When he arrived in Australia, Bates began work with Symon Wilde, alongside Jackson, and quickly made an impression.
Hartnell (GB) was Bates' biggest claim-to-fame as a jockey
"I came over and was working for Symon Wilde, so he gave me my first winner and got me going. The visa I came out on, I could only work for someone for six months, so after that I moved on and ended up working with Daniel and it’s worked out pretty well from there," he said.
A Group 1 connection
Bowman, who had learned his trade under Darren Weir, had only been training for a couple of years when Bates joined him.
"The timing of that has worked really well. I got to go to him, who is a young up-and-coming trainer. I've been lucky to have associations with people like that. Archie Alexander and Paul Preusker and these guys, they are trainers on the up. I've timed it well in that sense," Bates said.
"I've been with Daniel for a few years now and we get on really well. His wife gets on well with my wife and we are all good friends."
Daniel Bowman
Bates admits when he rode Begood Toya Mother in a Donald maiden in June last year, he didn’t have big expectations for the then 3-year-old gelding.
"We always thought a bit of him, but his first prep he was so immature mentally, he just wasn't putting it all together. So he wasn't really high on my radar that first prep," he said.
"He went out for that spell and when he had his first trial back in that second prep, Daniel and I looked at each other and thought, 'Gee, he's improved'."
"He went out for that spell and when he had his first trial back in that second prep, Daniel and I looked at each other and thought, 'Gee, he's improved'." - Declan Bates
Having won one of five starts in his first preparation, Begood Toya Mother put it all together, winning back-to-back BM64 races at Warrnambool and Cranbourne before winning a BM70 race at Sandown on Easter Monday by 6.5l.
The plan
It was at that point that Bowman told Bates he wanted to set the horse for the G1 Sir Rupert Clarke S. in the spring. Bates admits he thought it was raising the bar a little too high.
"It was a really long-term plan from him, from when the horse won at Sandown in April, he said this was the plan. I thought it was a bit ambitious, but he knew what he was doing and was able to mastermind it," he said.
Bates may say he was just along for the ride, but he has played a crucial role in Begood Toya Mother's rise as well. He has barely put a step wrong through his subsequent wins at Flemington and Caulfield (twice) and then his game sixth in the G1 Memsie S.
Bowman was full of praise for Bates again on Saturday, when he allowed the noted frontrunner to sit off the pace of Iconoclasm (Toorak Toff) early, and then surged him clear down the Caulfield straight for a comfortable 1.25l victory.
The world doesn't change overnight for a Group 1 winning jockey and Bates was back at Ballarat on Sunday, riding one for Bowman in a BM64 race. But he hopes that Saturday's success might put him on the radar of a few other trainers.
"It doesn't change that much. I keep doing what I'm doing, You like to think that getting on a good horse might lead to more options and more nice horses, but we’ll see how that goes," he said.
