Jockey couple Kyle Wilson-Taylor and Angela Jones may be lovebirds but they have a fierce rivalry on the track

Queensland jockey couple Kyle Wilson-Taylor and Angela Jones are loved up away from the track but on the track they don’t give each other an inch.

Queensland jockey couple Kyle Wilson-Taylor and Angela Jones. Picture: Supplied.

Jamie Kah and Ben Melham might be the modern day superstar jockey couple, but there’s another jockey couple who are blazing their own unique trail.

Queenslanders Kyle Wilson-Taylor and Angela Jones are lovebirds off the track but they are fierce competitors on it – and especially with each other.

Neither gives the other an inch.

Retired Group 1 winning champion rider Robbie Fradd is the man in the middle, as the mentor and coach for both Wilson-Taylor and Jones.

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Wilson-Taylor and Jones might be engaged to be married, but that doesn’t stop plenty of healthy competition between the pair.

“If Ange gets on a horse that Kyle had been riding, Kyle blows up,” Fradd chuckles.

“I’ll tell him, ‘that’s racing, unfortunately’.

“At the end of the day on the track, Ange is Kyle’s rival and Kyle is Ange’s rival.

“Ange doesn’t give Kyle an inch and he doesn’t give her an inch.

“Ange will joke to me that Kyle could have just gone over to the fence on a horse to make things easier for her.

“I tell her that he doesn’t have to do that for her and vice versa.

“There is plenty of competition there, but it’s very healthy competition.

“The success of one of them really spurs the other one on.”

Jockeys Kyle Wilson-Taylor and Angela Jones. Picture: Richard Walker

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While Wilson-Taylor and Jones make a perfect match, they have very different personalities.

Wilson-Taylor is relentlessly driven and focused and comes with supercharged fire in his belly.

Jones, who hails from the Queensland bush where she grew up in Charters Towers, is more relaxed.

“You wouldn’t know if Ange is happy or sad, she has such a calm and relaxed temperament,” Fradd said.

“Kyle can beat himself up a bit and he’s a bit hard on himself.

“I sit with them every Monday and go through the replays of their races.

“I am honest with them and tell them when they have ridden a great ride and when they haven’t then we look at things that we can improve.

“Sometimes though, it can simply be the case of they have ridden the horse well, but the horse just simply wasn’t good enough.”

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Heading into Wednesday’s Ramornie Handicap meeting at Grafton, Wilson-Taylor had ridden 340 career winners while Jones had 303 career winners.

Wilson-Taylor has something Jones does not – a cherished Group 1 victory, coming when he rode Palaisipan to an emotional victory in last year’s Tatt’s Tiara at Eagle Farm.

Kyle Wilson-Taylor scores his first Group 1 on Palaisipan in the Tattersall's Tiara at Eagle Farm in 2023. Picture: Grant Peters/Trackside Photography

This racing season in Brisbane, however, Jones has won overall bragging rights around the dinner table at home.

She has ridden 19 more city winners than Wilson-Taylor.

Both are coming off Stakes wins at the Sunshine Coast last Saturday with Wilson-Taylor claiming the Glasshouse Handicap aboard Punch Lane and Jones scoring the Caloundra Cup after a terrific ride on Mission Of Love when she cut the corner as rival jockeys fanned wide.

The powerful Anthony and Sam Freedman stable, who Wilson-Taylor has ridden with success for when scoring on Punch Lane twice in quick succession, have big wraps on the young jockey and they would be happy to support him in Melbourne.

Angela Jones with her mentor Robbie Fradd at Doomben. Picture: News Corp Australia

Fradd said Wilson-Taylor and Jones are both rapid improvers and could end up having golden careers in the southern states – if they get the right support from trainers.

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“I have said to both of them that they haven’t hit their peak, they are still young and they have better times to come,” Fradd said.

“I have no doubt they have the ability to go anywhere in Australia to ride.

“Sydney and Melbourne are both very cut throat, so it’s just a matter of what support they would get.

“But as far as ability goes, I have no doubt they would make it.

“The bigger picture for them is just to strive to do better every season than they did the previous season.

“You have to set yourself goals.

“I see a lot of jockeys just going around just riding their usual races.

“But you need to be determined and set goals if you want to climb the ladder.

“I always drum it into them about making sacrifices, in any sport there are a lot of sacrifices you have to make.”

Originally published as Jockey couple Kyle Wilson-Taylor and Angela Jones may be lovebirds but they have a fierce rivalry on the track