The evergreen Glen Boss stole most of the Australian riding limelight on Saturday when he dominated day 2 of The Championships at Royal Randwick.
The remarkable veteran whose skills are never sharper than they are on a big day, bagged a Group 2 (Heineken 3 Percy Sykes Stakes) and a brace of Group 1’s (The Star Australian Oaks and Schweppes Sydney Cup).
In the west Willy Pike had a normal day at the office with four Ascot wins, including the WATC Derby on exciting filly Tuscan Queen.
At Morphettville Parks in Adelaide, emerging talent Lachlan Neindorf notched his first metropolitan treble.
The two biggest winner tallies of the day were away from the metropolitan tracks. At Emerald in Queensland’s Central Highlands region, 22 year old Elyce Smith joined an elite club when she won six of the nine races.
While all this was going on, Jeff Penza was minding his own business at the Newcastle meeting, where his book of seven rides brought a dazzling five win haul - the first time he’s been able to achieve this unique feat in thirty three years of race riding.
The popular jockey has won four races on a single programme several times. “I went very close to five wins at a Sapphire Coast meeting a few years ago,” said Jeff. “The fifth one went under in a very close finish.”
Penza won on first starter Criaderas for Godolphin, first starter What A Girl for Chris Waller, Loves To Rock for Anthony Cummings, San Marco for Peter Ball, and Hardspot for Brett Cavanough. He’s in constant demand with Sydney trainers who send their lower grade horses to the Kembla and Newcastle Saturday meetings.
Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - A career milestone! Hardspot gives Jeff five for the day Newcastle 11/04/2020.
Saturday’s contribution took Penza to 48 NSW wins for the season with 55.5 seconds and 46.5 thirds thrown in. All of this comes after a ten month layoff following a sickening fall at Queanbeyan in October 2018.
He was riding Murrage in a 1400 Maiden and was actually in front nearing the hometurn, when crowded by the horse on his outside. Murrage seemed to panic in restricted room and literally ‘sat down’ like a dog begging.
Jeff was dislodged and struck by a couple of oncoming runners, sustaining multiple fractures below the left knee, a fractured wrist, and a shoulder injury. The leg required two surgical procedures and months of rehabilitation, but not for one moment did he contemplate retirement.
Jeff Penza rode his first winner in 1987 when apprenticed to Peter Balzen who worked his horses on a private property at Vineyard. At the completion of his apprenticeship, Jeff based himself at Rosehill where his unfailing work ethic attracted the attention of several prominent trainers.
He rode frequently for trainers like Paul Sutherland, Dr. Geoff Chapman, and Jack Denham through the 1990’s. Chris Waller utilised his services on a regular basis after setting up shop at Rosehill in the early 2000’s.
In 1993 young Jeff decided to take himself off on an English sabbatical. Jockey agent Paul Webster was able to make arrangements for Penza to link up with respected trainer Clive Brittain at the unique Newmarket training precinct. “I regularly rode work on the heath in pea soup fogs,” recalled the jockey. “Couldn’t see a thing, but there was nothing to run into. Horses and riders got used to it.”
Jeff had eighteen rides in England and gained bragging rights by winning one race at the picturesque Kempton Park track in Surrey. He saved race books from every meeting he attended during the trip and still thumbs through them from time to time. “It was an enormous thrill to ride alongside such legends as Lester Piggott, Willie Carson and Frankie Dettori,” he recalled.
In 2002 Jeff had a fleeting association with a filly who was destined for a stellar career. He rode a bay Danehill Dancer filly in a couple of barrier trials for Rosehill trainer Lee Curtis and confidently informed the trainer she was better than Gr 1 sprinter Mistegic who was in the stable at the same time.
Jeff rode her when a luckless first up fourth at Canterbury and retained the ride when she won a Kembla Maiden by an amazing ten lengths. Grant Buckley won two more city races on the filly for Lee Curtis, after which the budding superstar was transferred to John O’Shea - a devastating blow to the Rosehill trainer.
It’s now history that Private Steer went on to win another nine including three at Group 1 level. Four other Group 1 placings helped to bring her earnings to more than $3.4 million.
In the early 2000’s Jeff Penza made the decision which was to consolidate his future. He could no longer see the point in pushing a couple of $50.00 “pops” around every Saturday against a powerful group of Sydney jockeys.
He decided to concentrate on the Kembla and Newcastle Saturday meetings with the option of going into the country during the week. The winners flowed and it wasn’t long before he built up a very solid client base.
Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Jeff wearing the Godolphin blue - He rides regularly for the stable on the provincial circuit.
The following figures testify to the wisdom of Jeff’s decision. We’ll discard the 2018/2019 season because he rode for only one quarter of it, but observe his statistics for the previous decade. From the commencement of the 2008/2009 season until the completion of the 2017/2018 season he rode a whopping 1074.5 winners on NSW tracks.
Jeff topped the century in seven of those seasons, and in the 2016/2017 year he was leading jockey in the state with 136 winners. “It wouldn’t have been possible without the support and professionalism of my long time manager Greg Burke,” he said. “He knows his stuff and does a great job pulling everything together.”
The jockey rarely deviates from his regular routine of riding out of town. He made an exception a few years ago when Hawkesbury trainer Jason Attard offered him the opportunity to team up with the talented Sons Of John.
Jeff rode the gelding seventeen times in total for four wins and four placings. An easy win in the Gr 3 Hawkesbury Cup was the highlight, although a second placing in the Gr 2 Theo Marks Stakes at Rosehill went close to changing the course of racing history.
A perfect Penza ride saw Sons Of John looking certain to win 100m from home, but Winx hurtled home to snatch victory by a head - the closest winning margin in the champion’s 33 win streak. Three weeks later Winx left no element of doubt when she won the Epsom by more than two lengths from Ecuador with Sons Of John half a head away third.
Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Winx grabs Penza's mount Sons of John to win the 2015 Theo Marks by a head - the narrowest margin in the champion's 33 win streak.
Jeff and Michelle Penza live on a small property at Berkshire Park where they keep three retired race horses. “Michelle is a very capable rider and enjoys working and showing the horses on a regular basis,” says the jockey.
One of the retirees is Fireball who won seven provincial and country races when trained by Jan Bowen a few years ago. “I actually won a couple of races on him and it was obvious he had the perfect temperament for the show ring,” says Jeff. “I asked Jan to keep me in mind when Fireball’s racing days were over and she was kind enough to let us have him.”
Jeff and Michelle are the proud parents of Noah (18) and 15 year old daughter Que (pronounced “Kew”). Noah is in his first year of a Bachelor of Information Technology Degree at University, while Que is a very serious exponent of gymnastics. With her gym facilities in lockdown, she’s currently training hard at home.
Jeff says the racing industry is coping well with the stringent protocols necessary to keep the racing industry going. “Every jockey’s temperature was checked on arrival at Newcastle on Saturday and we were then directed into one of four jockey’s rooms - two for the boys and two for the girls,” said Penza. “We were all asked to shower before changing into our riding gear and there was constant hand washing right through the day. Barrier attendants wore gloves and masks to minimise the chance of any transmission as horses were placed into the gates. Obviously distancing was carefully observed.”
Jeff was unsure of his best course of action when all jockeys were asked to nominate their preferred zones a few weeks ago. “My manager told me I had a number of advance bookings for Northern meetings in the weeks ahead and suggested I should honour those,” he said. “The number of rides would have been similar in either zone, so it made little difference which way I went.”
Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Jeff gets Tinkermosa home in the Gr. 3 Belle Of The Turf at Gosford 27/12/2019.
Almost eight months after his return from injury the jockey is oblivious to the two plates which remain below his left knee. “The specialists suggested I should leave the plates intact for a good twelve months,” said Jeff. “They’ll come out sometime next year. I’m not in a hurry because I’ll have to have time off after the procedure.”
As strong as an ox at 54kgs, and seemingly immune to the rigours of travel
Jeff Penza can look forward to some productive years in the saddle. If racing continues through the pandemic he has the freedom to ply his trade from Gosford to Grafton if he so desires. Interesting to note he made one of his rare trips to Tamworth a few weeks ago and won a race on Mr. Perfection for trainer George Woodward.
Jeff Penza’s love of horses extends far beyond his job as a professional jockey. He grew up at Quaker’s Hill and was an elite performer in pony club from an early age. He was introduced to thoroughbreds by Norm Williamson who ran the Jason Lodge Stud on Sunnyholt Rd at Blacktown.
Progress has swallowed up the rural environment of the late 1970’s when small farms were prevalent and spacious paddocks abounded along Sunnyholt Rd. Norm Williamson stood several stallions on his property, mixing commercial breeding with the training of a small team of horses.
“Most of Norm’s training was done around the paddocks at Jason Lodge Stud,” recalled Jeff. “He’d have to take them to Rosehill for a gallop occasionally, but once they were up and going he rarely left the property.”
It was Norm Williamson who first legged the kid from Quakers Hill onto the back of a thoroughbred, igniting a flame that has never been extinguished.
The howling wind at Newcastle on Saturday fanned that flame into a pretty decent blaze as Jeff Penza got among the winners.
(Banner Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Criaderas storms home to win at Newcastle - the first of Jeff's fabulous five.)