There are so many Irish riders in Australia now it would be hard to count them on the fingers of two hands, and the country, rightly, has a reputation for producing great jockeys both on the flat and over jumps.
In fact so highly did a young Teo Nugent and his family – particularly his father, who hails from the Emerald Isle – regard the Irish jockey production system that when Nugent was a Warrnambool based teenager and aspiring jockey it was decided to send him to the other side of the world to learn how to race ride.
He spent a year in Ireland at RACE, the jockey training school at The Curragh before joining Ciaron Maher in Melbourne to begin an apprenticeship.
And the fruits of that training have become apparent as Nugent has steadily built his career since coming out of his time with Maher – culmininating on Saturday when he took out the second group 1 (but first outright) of his career when he got up in the dying strides to land the SA Derby aboard Wigmore for the former Adelaide but now Victorian based trainer Phillip Stokes.
The irony of Nugent’s early days would not have been lost on the connections of the runners up – Irish trainer Thomas Carberry, himself from a famous Irish racing family, and Irish jockey John Allen.
The pair looked to have the race in their keeping with VRC Oaks winning filly Strictly Business, who had finished hard along the inside rail until Nugent got up late down the centre of the rain sodden Morphetville track to grab the spoils on the former New Zealand gelding Wigmore, who paid more than $45 for a win on the TAB.
Allen is, of course, also a product of the Irish racing system and has enjoyed enormous success in this country, first over jumps and then on the flat largely with the stables of Darren Weir and Maher.
Had Strictly Business held on he would have been landing his fifth SA Derby, reinforcing his fondness for the track and the race which had given him his first group one winner on the Weir trained Howard Be Thy Name in 2016
Nugent had tasted Group 1 glory after a fashion when he partnered Portland Sky to dead heat with Celebrity Queen in the Oakleigh Plate of 2021, so this win on Wigmore will feel extra special – and not just because it was the first in which he did not have to share the spoils.
It was, he said, also rewarding to have notched the success on a horse trained by Philip Stokes, with whom he had spent plenty of time as a youngster during his school holidays before heading off to Ireland.
”What a massive thrill to get a big one for Phil, one of my biggest supporters in the early days. To get a group one with him is fantastic.
” I said to Phil when I was 12 years old that I would stay on and be his apprentice. I went over to Ireland to learn how to ride horses and for whatever reason, it didn’t work out and I went to Ciaron Maher instead.
”It’s good to team up with Phil and get a Group 1 winner behind us. He was always super throughout my apprenticeship. He would always chuck me on in town.
”Just of late, I’ve been coming over to Adelaide, warming up for the season. He had this horse trained to the minute. This is his first campaign and to be in work for six months, he bucked me off when I got on, he was feeling super well.
”He’s a typical Kiwi mudlover, he got through the track, no worries at all. Onwards and upwards for him, for sure.
”My horse trucked in from a long way out. I just wanted to come down the middle of the track. The further we got the more excited and confident I got towards the finish but he only got warm the last 50 metres, it took me a long time to pull up.”
Stokes has only had the horse a short while, taking charge of the lightly raced gelding after he had run fourth at 100-1 in the New Zealand Derby on 7th March.
”We just brought him along slowly. He’s very clean winded. Big thanks to OTI, they’re massive supporters. We’ve won this race twice and we’ve had a few Group 1 winners now,” he said.
”They’re very important. It’s good for everyone and there’s a lot of good owners in this. It’s great.”
He would not be drawn on any immediate plans for the galloper, who was only having his eighth race start.
“It’s too early. There is the Queensland Derby, but I’m not sure if I want to go that way. He’s done an amazing job after being up for so long. We may have a Melbourne Cup horse on our hands.
”He didn’t have a jump-out coming into it. I’ve had a bit of luck doing it with these types of horses, like Daqiansweet Junior, Amade. They can leave it on the track if you overtrain them. They’re just natural stayers and I enjoy training them.”
Allen was, naturally, disappointed not to have landed his fifth Derby, especially going down by such a narrow margin especially after meeting interference early in the contest.
“She’s done a good job. We were put through the fence in the first couple of furlongs. After we gathered ourselves, worked through the field and when she picked up around the corner, I thought we were home. I thought she might have laboured a little in the ground. She’s certainly moves better on a good track, but it was a very solid effort.”
