Celine Gaudray joins fellow jockeys and trainers at Off The Track Carnival in September
The high pressure of the racing world is a million miles away when jockey Celine Gaudray is with her Off The Track horses.
The high pressure of the racing world is a million miles away when jockey Celine Gaudray is with her Off The Track horses.
Jockeys don’t have the opportunity to spend much time with horses during busy trackwork mornings or race days, but Gaudray is one of the band of participants that loves to whittle away a spare afternoon with her thoroughbreds.
“Before I was a jockey, I did equestrian and my first equestrian horse was an Off The Tracker, which I still have now. She’s 18 years old and she could jump anything you pointed her at,” Gaudray said.
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“I think the thoroughbreds are so versatile and this is like a breath of fresh air as racing, you don’t really get the connection with the horses.
“Riding them at home when the weather is fine, is so relaxing.
“I find when you’re with the horses, you don’t think about anything else, it’s just really relaxing.
“It’s so relaxing having a horse … and they’re so cuddly.”
Gaudray will return to her equestrian roots when she joins Jamie Melham and Daniel Stackhouse on a jockeys’ team that takes on trainers Matt Laurie, Matthew Williams and Jason Warren as well as Olympians Amanda Ross and Jamie Coman in a showjumping challenge.
The challenge is part of the massive Off The Track Carnival, to be held on September 13-14, an equestrian showpiece that has grown into the richest event in Victoria with $200,000 in prizemoney on offer.
“I’m really excited to be competing against the trainers and the Olympians because it will be fair play with all Off The Track horses,” Gaudray said.
“The jockeys will have everyone covered, but everyone will have a good time watching and it will be fun.
“I can’t say I’ve seen many trainers jump before so I’m very excited to see them jump as well.”
Racing Victoria is proud to join Boneo Park Equestrian Centre in launching the inaugural Off The Track Carnival which will be Victoria’s largest equestrian event dedicated to thoroughbreds. @RV_OffTheTrack
— Racing Victoria (@RacingVictoria) May 8, 2025
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The Off The Track Carnival is restricted to thoroughbreds listed in the Australian Stud Book but will feature more than 400 retired racehorses at the famous Boneo Park property on the Mornington Peninsula.
“I think it’s great,” Gaudray said.
“It promotes people to want to get an Off The Track horse and the prizemoney, because it’s an expensive sport, it really does help cater for that.
“There’s 400 horses there so the event speaks for itself.
“These events are really important because so many people work so hard behind the scenes on these horses so to strive for an event like this, that does have prizemoney will be really good.”
The Off The Track Carnival features Dressage, Combined Training, Showjumping and Show Horse categories with horses of all levels of training with riders from a wide age range.
The Carnival has attracted Group 1-winning racehorses such as Hartnell and Santa Ana Lane as well as Melbourne Cup runner-up Emissary to compete.
Gaudray will ride her horse Deel Blaster, the winner of six races for Laurie, who she asked to home when he retired this year.
“I rode Deel Blaster in a few of his races,” Gaudray said.
“We won a race at Mornington a while back now and I asked Kate, Matt Laurie’s wife, if I could have him Off The Track when he finished racing because he’s so willing and such a lovely ride.
“Kate initially wanted him but because she had a few too many, I was able to take him off her and he’s stuck with me.”
Deel Blaster wouldn’t want it any other way.
Originally published as Celine Gaudray joins fellow jockeys and trainers at Off The Track Carnival in September
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