The Newcastle Jockey Club upheld its part of the bargain by putting on one hell of a show to mark the birth of The Hunter.
Chief Executive Matt Benson and his Committee were thrilled with every aspect of the day. A crowd of 6250 rolled out to witness the running of the $1 million extravaganza and betting was strong right across the board.
In the absence of a Sydney meeting, a number of guest bookmakers applied for temporary accreditation. “It was a great sight to see twenty three bookies stand up in the Newcastle ring’, reports Matt Benson.
The renowned Newcastle track deserves special mention. Apart from its spacious stretches, the present day racing surface is ranked among the world’s best.
In wet weather Newcastle stands alone. Matt cites a meeting conducted in March of 2018 after 95mm of rain. “We started off on a Soft 5, but by race 2 we’d upgraded to a Good 4”, recalled the Chief Executive. “It’s drainage capabilities are astonishing”.
Savatiano was massively impressive in the feature race and Tilia Rose looked the real deal in winning the Max Lees Classic. Four year old mare Trophies Galore was another winner to greatly impress the serious form students in the Cl 3 TAB Highway - her fourth win from just thirteen starts.
Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Trophies Galore looked the goods in the Newcastle TAB Highway.
Trophies Galore is one of a six horse team prepared by Andrew Robinson at Muswellbrook, the scene of her previous three wins. The young trainer was understandably chuffed to win with his very first runner under metropolitan conditions.
Trophies Galore is a daughter of Reward For Effort who flew under the radar for a few seasons before coming up with 113 Australian winners in 2018/19. The son of Exceed And Excel raced only ten times under Peter Moody for 4 wins - the Blue Diamond Preview and the Diamond itself in 2009, the Listed Sir John Monash, and the Gr 3 Concorde Stakes.
Nobody was more impressed with Trophies Galore than her super-efficient jockey Andrew Gibbons. Newcastle based Gibbons has had four rides on the mare for two wins and two placings. “She impressed me greatly when I won a BM58 on her at Muswellbrook back in May”, said Gibbons. “I was quietly confident despite a class rise and a nightmare barrier”.
Gibbons and Robinson agreed that they should look for cover if the mare got caught wide, and that’s the way it panned out. Trophies Galore travelled three wide on the back of Maid Marilyn before easing into the clear at the top of the straight, where she was spotting the leaders five lengths.
The thing that separates nice horses from the mediocre brigade is the ability to ‘let down”. Trophies Galore had the race won in a few strides, looking ultra conspicuous in her red and white silks with matching blinkers.
Forty one year old Andrew Gibbons is one of those hard working jockeys who goes quietly about his business - so unobtrusively in fact that few realise the extent of his achievements.
Somebody had to alert the press when Andrew recorded 1000 career wins during the 2018/19 season - he’s now nudging 1100. It wasn’t until the season was all over that attention was drawn to his extraordinary 137 win tally, making him the second highest winning jockey in NSW and the fifth in the nation.
Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Andrew rarely comes to town, but he was at Rosehill on 26/09/2018 to win this one on Lady Evelyn.
His emergence as a very serious professional jockey comes twenty nine years after he taught himself to ride a borrowed pony on a Hunter Valley property. There were two other diversions, either of which could have kept him away from racing.
In early teens he was fanatical about the game of soccer, showing any amount of natural talent. By his own admission he was too small to compete against much bigger rivals. “I got sick of being pushed all over the ground’, said Andrew.
In the early nineties he somehow drifted into the junior boxing ranks, and once again his natural sporting talent came to the fore. The budding jockey won seventeen of twenty one bouts in the 41kg division, picking up the Australian title along the way.
He had the opportunity to join a boxing training camp, but his small stature was beginning to trigger thoughts of becoming a jockey. He was fortunate to gain an apprenticeship with Noel Mayfield-Smith who was just getting over the loss of his champion filly Angst. The daughter of Kala Dancer had developed breathing difficulties after clean sweeping the four race Princess Series.
Vets operated to remove polyps from Angst’s larynx and she seemed to be making a normal recovery but actually suffocated during the night. “Noel was slowly getting over the trauma of losing such a great filly’, recalled Andrew. “ It wasn’t a good time in his life, but he was a great bloke to work for and gave me a flying start in the business”.
Former successful jockey Laurie Billett was working for Noel Mayfield-Smith at the time and offered valuable consultation to young Gibbons.
It was Newcastle trainer Ken Delforce who provided young Andrew’s first winner. The apprentice got an early Xmas present on 17/12/94 when he won a Maiden at Newcastle on Andy Handout.
When Noel Mayfield-Smith made the move to Hawkesbury in the mid nineties, Andrew decided to transfer his indentures to Bryan Guy who had a big team in work at Rosehill. “I spent the last two years of my apprenticeship with Bryan and enjoyed the experience”, said the jockey. “I got to ride some pretty nice horses including Ravarda who’d already won a couple of Gr 1 races. I rode him twice in Group 2 events finishing out of a place on both occasions, but it was a thrill to be there”.
One of many winners Gibbons rode for the Guy stable was a genuine gelding called Ripper. “He was one of my favourites and I got to win a Flying Welter on him at Randwick on one occasion”, reflected the jockey.
By the time Andrew had completed his apprenticeship the Sydney riding ranks were stronger than ever. “I never really settled into city life and I didn’t need much prompting to return to Newcastle”, he said.
With the help of the late Max Lees and several other trainers, fully fledged jockey Andrew Gibbons quickly established himself in the bustling Newcastle precinct.
Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Gibbons rides for many stables in the Hunter Region. Here he is in the Arrowfield colours winning on Powertrain at Muswellbrook.
A quick glance at the stats reveals that in the 2003/2004 season he rode 15 winners in the state. By 2014/2015 he reached a total of 64 and was around that mark for the next three seasons. As highlighted earlier, Gibbons hit career best form in 2018/2019 to record 137 wins in NSW.
Andrew Gibbons is in a good space as he enters his twenty fifth season of race riding. His reliability and pleasant disposition have endeared him to many Newcastle trainers, none more than Kris Lees who supplied many of his winners last season.
He’s looking forward to eldest son Dylan beginning his riding career in the near future. The eighteen year old is about to begin his apprenticeship with Kris Lees and will have the benefit of riding work alongside his father. “His younger brother Ryan (10) is far more interested in soccer than he is in racing’, explained Andrew.
It’s unlikely there’ll be any change to the jockey’s current routine. He’s assured of regular rides on the strong Hunter circuit and often turns up at venues like Taree and Port Macquarie. He may have to miss a meeting somewhere in the near future, as his marriage to partner Keeley draws near.
I’ll be keeping an eye out to see who’s going to ride Trophies Galore should the promising mare turn up in town shortly. I’ll be amazed if it’s not Andrew Gibbons.
Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Andrew is a regular in the winners circle on northern tracks. Here he is unsaddling Feelin The Love, Newcastle 17/03/2017.
(Banner image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Trophies Galore was dominant in winning the TAB Highway at Newcastle.)