Cecily Eaton returns to NT for Darwin meeting

[Wandering Eyes]

Cecily Eaton aboard Temerity at the Jandowae races in May 2019. (Photo: Meg Gannon)

It has been a long time between drinks, but Brisbane-based jockey Cecily Eaton will make a welcome return to Darwin’s Fannie Bay on Saturday.

Interstate hoops have accepted invitations from Northern Territory trainers regularly in the past to ride at either Darwin or Alice Springs.

And it’s not necessarily on the occasions when the Darwin Turf Club and Alice Springs Turf Club stage their respective Cup carnivals – Darwin (July-August) and Alice Springs (April-May).

Jockey numbers in the NT have also fluctuated over the years and currently there are 13 permanent riders.

Jarrod Todd, Wayne Davis, Adam Nicholls, Stan Tsaikos, Paul Shiers, Sonja Wiseman, Vanessa Arnott and Casey Hunter are based in Darwin, while Paul Denton, Ianish Luximon, Dan Morgan, Jessie Philpot and the injured Lorelle Crow are based in Alice Springs.

It’s not uncommon for Darwin jockeys to make the flight to Alice Springs for meetings at Pioneer Park, while South Australian apprentice Jade Doyle made the trip north to ride at last Sunday’s meeting.

Top End apprentice Jade Hampson has relocated to South Australia, Red Centre apprentice Dakota-Lee Gillett has moved to NSW, it seems unlikely that prominent NT jockeys Kim Gladwin and Barry Huppatz will ever return to the saddle, and former Darwin-based jockey Phillip Crich – who now resides in Murray Bridge in South Australia – has spent the last few months riding in the NT.

Eaton, who made her riding debut as a teenaged apprentice jockey at Longreach in central Queensland in June 1998, is looking forward to her trip to the Top End and has five rides for trainer Phil Cole on the six-event program.

It’s the first meeting at Fannie Bay in three weeks following maintenance to the track in preparation for the forthcoming wet season period.

Eaton will partner Laylah’s Wish (Race 2), Military Zone (Race 3), Nokondi (Race 4), Tsugaru (Race 5) and Sabaku (Race 6), and if form is any guide, Nokondi is perhaps her best chance after the five-year-old gelding suffered a narrow defeat last start on September 10 having led for most of the way.

“I have been up a couple of times, but it’s probably a couple of years ago now since I made the trip,” she said.

“I sort of know Dick Leech (NT trainer) a little bit and Phillip Cole called me up one day and invited me up to Darwin.

“I think I had four rides for him that day – they were all long shots.

“I think one ran second at 100-1 or something – I obviously did something right on a couple of them, so he’s asked me to come back.

“Obviously, Phillip is one of the better trainers or leading trainers up there and he seems to get a lot of success with his horses.

“I’d say between Wayne Davis and myself, Phillip’s got a good card of horses there on Saturday.”

Apart from mostly riding throughout Queensland for the duration of her career, Eaton has also ridden at numerous locations overseas – including Italy in 2016.

“I’ve been around a while and I’ve been to a lot of places – it’s been good,” Eaton added.

“Heading back to Darwin is not my first rodeo and I’m happy to make the trip when I’m available.

“It is a long trip, I leave Saturday morning, but I’m used to the travel as I get around a bit.

“I’m happy to keep going to Darwin whenever I’m needed, it’s always a good experience up there – and Alice Springs as well.

“A lot of people don’t know how well run it is up there until you go there.

“From the barrier staff to the stewards and everything else that takes place on race day, it’s pretty well organised.”

Eaton has also had the opportunity to ride in Brisbane, as well as at various country tracks in NSW and Tasmania.

She has only managed a second in eight rides at Fannie Bay, while at Pioneer Park her record stands at four wins, four seconds and a third from 24 rides.

In 4675 rides in the country regions of Queensland, Eaton’s tally stands at 358 wins, 325 seconds and 345 thirds.

Booting home a winner at Eagle Farm and Doomben is certainly no easy task, but at least Eaton boasts three wins, six seconds and six thirds, and the fact that she has even had the opportunity to ride in town on 198 occasions proves that trainers rate her as a jockey and are happy to book her for rides.

All was seemingly going smoothly for Eaton until she suffered an injury after falling from her mount at a race meeting at Warwick last December.

That kept her sidelined for a few months before she made a triumphant return at Toowoomba on May 7, and since then she has also saddled up at Chinchilla, Ipswich, Gatton, Esk, Warwick, Kilcoy, Dalby and the Sunshine Coast.

“I had that fall last December and it took me a little bit longer to recover than I thought,” Eaton said.

“Just trying to get going again.

“Trying to build momentum – it’s pretty hard here in Brisbane as there’s a lot of jockeys to compete against, a lot of good jockeys.

“Before the fall I was also going to places like Rockhampton and Mackay – I think that week I had the fall I’d ridden just about every day.

“I think I had 25 rides for the week.”

Apart from her race day and track work commitments, is there anything else that fills in the day for Eaton?

“No, not at the moment, but I’m looking at maybe doing like a pet grooming business from home because I love dogs and animals in general,” she said.

“I might be looking into doing something like that on the side.”

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