Cover image courtesy of Wendy Peel
Written by Georgie Dennis
Apprentice jockey Wendy Peel scored her first metropolitan win aboard the Paul Butterworth-trained Canapes (Casino Prince) at Doomben on Saturday, and while she was thrilled to tick off the milestone, she has set herself a clear goal going forward.
At 27 years of age Peel has completed two years of her apprenticeship, and has out-ridden her country claim in the process, but after ticking the city win box on the weekend, she now has her sights set on scoring another 79 victories in town and out-riding her metro claim.
Wendy Peel
“It certainly was [exciting to ride my first metro winner], especially because that was only my second ride in town, so to get it on the board that quickly was really good,” Peel told TDN AusNZ.
“It certainly was (exciting to ride my first metro winner), especially because that was only my second ride in town." - Wendy Peel
“My apprenticeship finishes in March 2022 so my goal is to outride my metro claim and that’s 80 winners or something like that but I think it’s realistic enough.”
Given the amount of time she puts into riding, it’s hard not to see why Peel won’t achieve her goal.
Straight after her Doomben victory, she was in the car and on her way to Toowoomba where she took out the first race on the card aboard Papa Jo (Drumbeats) for Lindsay Hatch. This is the norm on a Saturday for Peel, and sometimes it’s not just limited to two meetings in the one day.
On August 22, she rode in the first four races at the Gold Coast, followed by the ninth race at Doomben and then made it to Toowoomba for Race 5, and while that’s a lot of work and a lot of time in the car, Peel said it’s worth it in the long run.
“Most weekends I do the Gold Coast and Toowoomba,” Peel said. “It is tiring but the results are worth it.
“You’ve just got to chase rides and ride everywhere you can. When you’re starting out at the country meetings, it’s so important to go and out-ride your country claim just to kick off and progress from there.
“You’ve just got to chase rides and ride everywhere you can." - Wendy Peel
“I remember when I was in Tamworth, one day I would be riding at Grafton or Coffs Harbour and then I’d be back riding at Dubbo the next day, you’ve just got to do the miles to get the results.”
Like many jockeys, Peel’s story with horses started with show jumping and eventing. After progressing into riding trackwork and getting a taste of riding racehorses she decided she wanted to be a jockey.
“I’ve ridden all my life,” Peel said. “I’ve done show jumping and eventing and worked with thoroughbreds doing a lot of yearling preps and sales in Australia and overseas.
“I wanted to do it (become an apprentice) having ridden all my life and I wanted to ride trackwork, but my parents tried to persuade me to do something else. Then once I started riding trackwork in New Zealand, I went from there and came back to Australia and that’s when I wanted to become a jockey.”
Peel worked with thoroughbreds through a number of avenues including yearling sales and preparations
She started off at Randwick with Peter Robl and then moved to Sue Grills in Tamworth where she managed to out-ride the country claim. Peel then spent the last eight months with Rodney Robb in Nyngan, NSW before moving up to Queensland eight weeks ago and joining Butterworth at Eagle Farm.
Recently we have seen a number of apprentices not just migrate to other states in search of better opportunities, but become successful and sought after jockeys.
Earlier this year Steph Thornton out-rode her metropolitan claim in Queensland before her fellow former Victorian Jess Eaton scored her first stakes win in Adelaide at the end of July.
Peel said she thought it would be tough to break into the Sydney ranks so she made the decision to continue her career in the sunshine state.
“I was at a point where I had to be realistic,” Peel said. “I only had two years of my apprenticeship left and I thought it would be quite hard for myself to make it in the Sydney ranks, but then I look at Louise Day and she’s going really well for a female apprentice.
“So a few people told me that Queensland is probably the sort of place that I could go to and do well and I’m really enjoying it up here.
“Hopefully the rest of my apprenticeship goes well and I can be established enough when I come out of it.”
