The horse that had to be broken in TWICE!

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HorsesMelbourne Cup

Far from Elleegant: Melbourne Cup heroine’s first rider reveals all

Verry Elleegant way back when with her first trackwork rider Ceilidh Johnston. Picture: Supplied

 

 

By Ben Dorries
04:29pm • 03 November 2021

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Verry Elleegant is now the pin-up girl of Australian racing but the first person to ever ride her says the Melbourne Cup heroine was once so unruly she had to be broken in twice.

Ceilidh Johnston was a trackwork rider for Verry Elleegant’s first trainer Nick Bishara in New Zealand and watched the mare’s Cup heroics in tears on Tuesday as she remembered some difficult early days.

When she first arrived at Ardmore Lodge, headstrong Verry Elleegant had to be sent back to the breakers and the filly later snapped Johnston’s ankle when she took fright at trackwork one day.

“The first time I hopped on her, when she had come back from the breakers, there was about a week when Nick and I were just trying to get on her back and see if we could even get her onto the track but we couldn’t,” Johnston told News Corp from New Zealand.

“We just ended up sending her to get broken in again.

“She had to be broken in twice, but even after that she certainly wasn’t easy.

“One day we were about to have a gallop and we were heading out to the 1000m mark, just starting to speed up.

“She saw a horse coming down the middle of the track and she just spun around and got me and broke my ankle.”

But Johnston, who is now a lawyer after having given away riding trackwork to focus on her primary job, insists that she knew from day one that Verry Elleegant was going to be something very special.

Melbourne Cup winner Verry Elleegant's first trackwork rider Ceilidh Johnston. Picture: Sonja Gardien

 

Verry Elleegant has now won 10 Group 1s and is a Melbourne Cup champion.

Johnston got a unique early glimpse into her extraordinary potential.

“I remember getting off her after her very first gallop and there were a few potential owners around the track and I told them all they should get a share in her because I thought she could be something very, very special,” Johnston said.

“She just had such a big stride and just amazing stamina, she wasn’t blowing after her first track gallop and she continued for nearly another lap afterwards which doesn’t usually happen.

“She was awkward because it was a small track but once I let her go she did it on her ear.

“The trainer told me off because we had gone too fast but I said I thought she was doing three quarter pace because she had done it so easy.

“If you had told me even back then that she was going to win a Melbourne Cup one day, I wouldn’t have laughed because although she was difficult she was an absolute freak and she had stamina like nothing else.”

Verry Elleegant showing her style back in the day with trackwork rider Ceilidh Johnston. Picture: Supplied

 

Verry Elleegant raced three times in New Zealand, finishing runner-up at her first start at Te Rapa before winning the next two when ridden by then apprentice Rowena Smyth.

Ironically, the winner in Verry Elleegant’s debut race was a two-year-old called Cyber Attack which was owned by Johnston’s now boss at the legal firm.

Johnston was chuffed when Verry Elleegant came to race in Australia and is full of praise and admiration for how Chris Waller has developed the one-time difficult filly with the high head carriage.

Johnston no longer works in the racing industry but tears flowed freely as she watched the Melbourne Cup, remembering her part in the early days of Verry Elleegant’s climb to the top.

 

Verry Elleegant as a young filly. Picture: Supplied

 

 

“As I watched the Melbourne Cup I screamed a lot and then there was a lot of sobbing,” she said.

“It was pretty crazy to be able to sit here and watch her and to think that I was once able to ride what’s now a Melbourne Cup winner.

“Chris (Waller) just deserves the utmost respect and I think the ride from James McDonald was the best I’ve ever seen in the Melbourne Cup.

“Verry Elleegant is not an easy horse and she never will be.

“James just respects her and keeps his hands quiet and doesn’t interfere and puts her in the right spot and lets her do her thing.

“As soon as I saw them come around that bend, I was like she (Verry Elleegant) is just going to do this, she’s going to win the Melbourne Cup.”

 

 

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Ben Dorries

 

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