Do Pony Races Lead To Bigger Things?

[Chief Stipe]

Pony race winner's jockey ambitions

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Don’t be surprised to see the name Lillianna MeyerVale pop up in your form guides over the next few years.

MeyerVale took out the 2025 National Pony Race Series Final (Large Ponies Division) on the Gold Coast in fine style late last month, and her tale to victory is quite remarkable.

Daughter of trainer Shilleagh MeyerVale and jockey Bradley Vale, 16-year-old Lillianna has long since held ambitions of a career in the saddle herself, and rides work for the family stable as well as honing her craft at the Benella Pony Club.

So, when she won her way through to the Pony Race Series Finals with victory at Moonee Valley, the team elected to temporarily shut the stable and make the big road trip north from their Berrigan base.

“It was a pretty big effort… we’re not a big stable, it’s all family run, and it’s mostly just Bradley, myself and the kids doing the work,” Shilleagh said.

“We had a few extra horses that were meant to be coming to the stables, and we were like, ‘we'll just keep it quiet for the minute,’ knowing that we had to go to Queensland.

“So, it's a definitely made things a little bit tighter, but we had to do it. It was a dream of hers to be able to participate in the whole series.”

Lillianna took part in the first Pony Race Series, where she rode little Tinkerbell in the Small Ponies Division.

Thought Tinkerbell is “not fast” - and that may be the polite way of putting it - Lillianna was hooked, and the requests for another, more serious tilt at the Series wasn’t far behind.

“She just rode little Tinkerbell, that she's been riding ever since she was tiny and Tinkerbell is not fast,” Shilleagh said with a laugh.

“But she (Lillianna) was so stoked to be part of it - it didn't matter if she went fast or not.  After she got that first taste, she begged us to buy her a mechanical horse.

“So, we went to Hilltop Saddlery and got her one of those and we called it Chautauqua, because it doesn't leave the shed – it stays there no matter how much she rides it.”

Needless to say, that was not Tinkerbell being ridden to victory on the Gold Coast.

But what makes Lillianna’s win all the more impressive is the fact that the pony in question, 13.2hh Honey, wasn’t her first choice either.

The seven-year-old mare was a late call-up, and an ill-tempered one at that, leaving Lillianna to start from the ground up with only a few months before the trial day at Ballarat and the first round of races at The Valley.

“After her first race on Tinkerbell, she said, ‘I need a faster horse’,” Shilleagh said.

“We said, ‘well, you know, it’s not all about winning’. And she just said, ‘I need a faster horse.’

“We’ve got another pony here and we started training him for it, but at the same time she was also training him for doing eventing, and he had a little accident on a jump.

“It wasn't major, but it was just enough that he needed time off which meant that he wasn't going to be right.

“We weren't sure what time of the year they were going to put the next series on, but we thought it'll probably stop her from being able to participate if it's earlier.

“Friends of ours said that they just got a pony – it needed a lot of work and education, but they reckoned it would be fast enough.”

Honey certainly came as advertised, but before long, Lillianna had the mare much more focused by the time Ballarat’s time trials rolled around.

From there the pair went to the Valley, where they won their heat comfortably sporting the Ridgemont colours, and qualified for the final.

“Lilliana’s really started from the bottom with this pony – it was quite a handful,” Shilleagh said.

“Didn't like to go forward, didn’t like to do anything. It's a chestnut mare, of course…  she’d got it over a couple of her little riders.

“So, it's taken quite a long time for her to realise that Lilianna means business and is gonna stay there and keep riding, not hopping off and putting her back out in the paddock.”

Following the 1470km road trip to the Gold Coast, and a series of games at the Magic Millions complex to determine the order of the barrier – Lillianna and Honey would end up with gate one.

It was a slight concern for Lillianna, with Honey still sometimes a challenge when given the space, but she needn’t have worried.

“Lillianna was a bit stressed about drawing one,” Shilleagh said.

“She said, ‘oh, she's not very good at going forward on our own and it's a different way of racing’, so she was a little bit sceptical of it.

“And of course they had rain, so we were wondering, how the track would be and everything like that, but it worked out for us.”

Watching Lillianna’s success on the Gold Coast – which ended up being a two-horse war with a good 35 lengths back to third – it is clear that a potential jockey of the future is in the saddle.

Shilleagh, who watched with stewards as Lillianna went for her track-work certification as soon as she could, said there have been few doubts about her daughter’s career paths, and even less so since she hit the pony racing scene.

And despite winning, a harsh post-race self-critique provides further proof that this was far from the last time Lillianna plans to race-ride.

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“She is deadset determined that she wants to be a jockey,” Shilleagh said.

“As soon as she could get a trackwork licence, she was up on up on a horse for the first time in front of three stewards watching her, making sure that she was okay to ride track work.

“She pulled herself up on looking down to her side in the actual race on the Gold Coast. She said she didn't even realise she’s doing it at the time because, she was just so excited and pumped, and concentrating too.

“And then she's looked up and she's like, ‘oh my gosh, I've just ran like it out a bit’ so she tried to straighten her out, but it was all right.

“The kids only have two chances to do it a year, so it's not like they get a lot of training like an apprentice jockey. There’s a lot of rules they have to follow as well, with space and steering.”

Shilleagh and Brad, who has had no shortage of exciting opportunities through his successful riding career, are perfectly content operating their small family stable.

But Lillianna, who will naturally be applying for an apprenticeship spot as soon as she can, is determined to mix it with the best.

“She has high aims,” Shilleagh said.

“Brad and I never really aim to be really big. We come from South Australia originally, but Brad had plenty of opportunities to ride overseas, in America and Macau, and for us to stay in those big cities there too.

“But we chose to live in the country and raise a family and just be happy doing what we're doing because we love the sport, but Lilianna has aims of being at the top.

“Her drive to do it, what she picks up on and everything like that will be awesome. She just needs to be able to get a few more horses underneath her to get more practice and the right people around her.

“The pony races, I suppose, have the added incentive of being able to encourage the next generation into our industry, and of all parts of it.

“Because it’s not just being a jockey, but they see different parts of horse racing as well, so it’s great.”

But again, this won’t be the case with Lillianna, who at present is firmly on track to join the riding ranks in the next few years.

Lillianna MeyerVale – remember the name.