Above: Berwick jockey Noel Callow rode at his vigorous best to boot home Victoria Derby winner Benicio (number 9) on Saturday.By Brad Kingsbury
BERWICK jockey Noel Callow was the toast of Flemington on Saturday after a ride that trainer Lee Freedman rated an ‘11 out of 10’ to win the $1.5 million Victoria Derby.
He was dubbed ‘King’ Callow after he rode a tactically perfect race in the 2500metre staying classic for threeyear olds on the Freedmantrained Benicio.
However earlier in the afternoon he incurred the wrath of the state’s leading trainer after a poor ride on Freedman’s star filly Queen Of The Hill that was runnerup in the Group 3 L’Oreal Plate.
Callow admitted his ride in the second event, in which he was pocketed in a fivehorse field, was a bad one and sections of the large crowd continued to remind him of the fact until after his Derby triumph.
“Yeah, they even gave it to me as I was heading out on to the track before the Derby,” he said.
“The ride (on Queen Of The Hill) was a shocker and I had to cop it and move on.
“It upset me, but I was able to refocus and turn it around.”
Freedman let Callow know his thoughts on his racetwo performance and the tension in the mounting yard was palpable as the shattered jockey made a beeline to the jockey’s room afterwards.
Never one to take a backward step, in days past Callow would likely have fired back after the postrace remarks, but his ability to get on with his job and ignore the continued criticism was testament to the 30yearold’s maturity and poise.
That combined with his welldocumented natural ability in the saddle, has seen him progress from the best country jockey in the state two years ago, to now be ranked among the elite riders in the land.
Despite that and the fact that he won the Werribee Cup a week ago, he was still looking on from the jockey’s room when yesterday’s Melbourne Cup was run and is yet to ride in the ‘race that stops a nation’, with most horses handicapped under his lightest riding weight of 54 kilograms.
“I had a ride this year (on international horse First Charter) but it broke down and that was the end of that,” he said.
“At my weight, it’s always going to be hard, but all I can do is keep putting my name up by winning big races.”
Callow said recently that he hoped to ride until he was in his late 30s depending on fitness and weight.
