“Choco” Cavallo’s dashing winning treble at Dubbo on Monday Feb 3rd, got friends and supporters talking about his longevity as a professional jockey.
The fifty one year old scored on Mayaman for trainer Cindy Monaghan, Athena’s Voice for Peter Cornish and Petain for Bob Howe. He was only half a length off four winners for the day when Alison Princess was a closing second in the opening event.
Trainers who use “Choco’s” services in the Central West are aware he’s a jockey of wide experience, but few would realise he’s been race riding since 1986. He was apprenticed to Ray Guy at Rosehill and spent his entire junior term with the prominent trainer.
In his very early days with the Guy stable, the personable young man of Italian descent picked up the “Choco” tag from a workmate. The nickname was quickly adopted by the Rosehill racing set and before long people had forgotten what his real Christian name was.
In this era of political correctness you’d think a nickname like “Choco” would have been phased out. “That is certainly not the case,” says the jockey. “I’ll give you an example of what happens behind the barrier when I’ve got a ride in a race. One of the barrier staff will say Greg Ryan you’re in 4, Matthew Cahill 6, Ken Dunbar 10 , “Choco” you’re in 2. It happened at Gilgandra on Saturday.”
Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Most racing people call him "Choco" - many have forgotten his real name.
Anthony has never been offended by the nickname and doesn’t expect to be in the future. “I can’t remember a single occasion when the name has been directed at me in poor taste,” he said.
Four or five years ago he was still riding work at Randwick most mornings.
He had a lengthy association with Graeme Rogerson before moving on to the Kevin Moses stable. With city opportunities slowly drying up, he found himself spending more and more time at country meetings.
Three and a half years ago he decided to bite the bullet and establish a base in the Central West. After a lengthy search for a suitable location, Anthony settled on a cabin dwelling at Cudgegong Waters Park on Windamere Dam about 30km from Mudgee. “It’s a lovely spot within comfortable reach of race meetings at Dubbo, Orange, Bathurst, Wellington and Narromine,” he said. “It’s not the end of the world if I need to sneak up to Tamworth or Gunnedah.”
Despite a guarantee of regular race rides in the region, the veteran jockey still chooses to put in the hard yards. One morning a week he drives to Dubbo to ride work for Kody Nestor. On another day you’ll find him at Orange assisting trainers like Alison Smith, Peter Cornish and Cindy Monaghan. “I was thrilled to be the jockey when Alison won her first city race with Absolute Ripper at Warwick Farm eighteen months ago,” said Anthony.
Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Absolute Ripper and Anthony Cavallo give trainer Alison Smith her first city winner at Warwick Farm 2018.
Two wins in the popular TAB Highway races have been especially satisfying for a jockey who cut his teeth on major Sydney tracks - one for Gunnedah trainer Gavin Groth on About Time at Rosehill, the other on Toulon Brook for Kody Nestor at Randwick last August.
Cavallo also has a great association with trainer Bob Howe who has access to a disused picnic track at Rylstone. “I ride work for Bob one day a week,” he said. “He’s a good trainer and gives me many opportunities. The best part is he’s just up the road from my place”.
I had a long talk with “Choc” over the weekend and he was pulling familiar names out of the hat at a great rate. He recalled his very first winner Vain Glorious at Gosford in September 1986. “She was a terrific little race mare with a liking for wet tracks”, said the jockey. “She also gave me the thrill of my first city win in a Canterbury Welter. Vain Glorious was a special mare.”
Anthony says Potrero was the best horse he actually won a race on. “I got to win a Rosehill Welter on Potrero in 1988, never dreaming he’d go on to win three Group 1’s.”
He remembers the day he was part of a huge boilover in the listed Reginald Allen Hcp at Randwick in 1993. “I rode a mare called Reign Of Honour for Hawkesbury trainer Wade Slinkard at odds of 140/1,” said Anthony. “She was last of eighteen runners coming up the rise before unleashing an amazing burst down the outside to get up on the line. I got to ride her in the Flight Stakes later and although unplaced she was only 4 lengths behind the winner Angst.”
There are few better examples of racing’s uncertainties than Anthony’s win on Spirited Way in the Gr 3 Silver Shadow Stakes of 1989. “The filly looked no hope on paper, but everything changed when we got to the gates,” recalled Cavallo. “The two top mares Joanne and Tristanagh were scratched after barrier mishaps and next thing I win a stakes race for trainer Robert Johnson.”
Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Anthony wins the TAB Highway on the Kody Nestor trained Toulon Breeze at Randwick August 2019.
Anthony has never forgotten a pleasant surprise he received in 1996 when he won a ‘bush” feature called the Golden Fleece at Warren (NSW). The Class 6 race was one of very few 2400m races available outside the metropolitan area and well suited to the spacious Warren track.
Cavallo was one of a small group of Sydney jockeys invited to the meeting. He’d been engaged for a few runners on the day, but had missed out on a ride in the Golden Fleece. When Glen Boss was forced to pull out at the last minute, Newcastle trainer Charlie Porter quickly engaged A.Cavallo for a three year old called Smokey Victory.
A purse of $30,000 had attracted twenty runners for the popular race, and it was a novel sight to see the huge field bound from the barriers in the home straight. “I was tenth or eleventh in the middle stages, but he worked into the race beautifully from the 800 metres,” recalled Anthony. “He rounded them up quickly in the straight and won by three lengths. Only twelve days later he ran fourth in the Queensland Derby with Grant Cooksley on board. No wonder he won the Golden Fleece in a canter.”
The jockey is unsure of his career winner tally, but believes he’s hovering around the 1000 mark. He’s never been a keeper of records and many of his winners have been outside of Australia.
A quick check on his overseas stints reveals that he spent a total of seven years in Malaysia and Singapore, five months in Macau and six months in Abu Dhabi in the infancy of professional racing in the UAE.
Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Cavallo lifts About Time over the line to win a TAB Highway at Rosehill for trainer Gavin Groth.
“Choco” realises his ability to ride light has been the main reason for his long innings. “I’ve never had to completely starve myself or sit in the sauna for hours on end,” he says. “I never go the races without eating breakfast. How many jockeys can say that.”
He’s had his share of falls and more than his share of injuries. There was one ‘buster’ at Wellington some years ago of which he has no memory. Not even a broken shoulder, broken collar bone, broken jaw and a couple of cracked ribs could dim his enthusiasm.
Anthony loves what he’s doing. He has an unbridled passion for thoroughbreds and enjoys nothing more than helping one of the smaller trainers to achieve a win.
The word “cavallo” can have several meanings in the Italian language, most of them to do with horses. You couldn’t pick a better name for a jockey of Italian ancestry who has been obsessed with horses since the day his father Nicholas took him to meet Ray Guy.
Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Anthony is now in his 34th year of race riding.
(Banner image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Absolute Ripper has been a good horse for jockey and trainer. Here he is winning at Hawkesbury 21/02/2017.)