Bendigo Cup: Code Bailey sets up shot at Hunter Cup glory for AFL players Lewis Taylor and Darcy Gardiner
Horse-loving Sydney Swans recruit Lewis Taylor is feeling settled at his new club and his pre-season got even more exciting when his pacer emerged as a contender for Victorian harness racing’s biggest race.
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Lewis Taylor is hoping his luck at the racetrack translates to the next chapter of his footy career with the Sydney Swans.
Taylor played 112 games with the Brisbane Lions before switching to the Swans at the end of last season in pursuit of more opportunities.
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The break in pre-season gave him the chance to pop back home to Victoria, catch-up with his former housemate and Lions teammate Darcy Gardiner and head trackside to watch their emerging star pacer Code Bailey win the Group 2 Bendigo Cup earlier this month.
Cody Bailey smashed the track record, cemented a spot in the $500,000 Group 1 Hunter Cup on February 1 at Melton and firmed from $41 to $9 with TAB to win Victoria’s biggest harness race.
“That’s the first time Dizzy (Gardiner) and I have watched him (Code Bailey) at the track together and it was fantastic to see him go so well,” Taylor said.
“Everything fell into place. I’d had that time at the Swans before Christmas to get to know the guys and settle in and could get back home for a while.”
Taylor always wanted to be a one-club player, but a mid-season ankle injury forced him out of the Brisbane team and their hugely successful back half of the season meant he couldn’t get back into the side.
“I was thrilled for the boys to see them do so well and all wasn’t lost for me. We (Brisbane) went through the NEAFL season unbeaten and won the flag easily,” he said.
“The chance came to go to Sydney, who have shown plenty of faith in me. It might be the fresh start I need. It seems like a great club from the five or six weeks I’ve spent their so far.”
Taylor is no stranger to horses.
He grew up in Victoria’s western districts and skipped year 12 at school to work horses and on the dairy farm with the Lee family, who trains Code Bailey.
“I went to school with Jason (Lee) and Paddy (Lee) and played junior footy with Jase. He’s the one to got Dizzy and I into this horse,” Taylor said.
Lee’s mother, Marg, trained Code Bailey and his then owner offered them the chance to buy him out at the end of the pacer’s three-year-old season, about 18 months ago.
“We had a huge opinion of him so I rang the boys, Lewy and Dizzy, and we got a few together to buy him,” Lee said.
“It’s really been this campaign where he’s gone to another level and shown what we felt he could.
“It didn’t surprise us he won so well at Bendigo and we’ll head to the Ballarat Cup to try and win his first Group 1 next (January 18). Then it’s on to the Hunter Cup, all going well.”
Gardiner, who’s played 106 games in six seasons with the Lions and is a huge harness racing fan, hopes his pre-season schedule allows for a quick trip to Melton for the Hunter Cup.
“I’ll be doing everything I can to get there. It’ll be so exciting to have a runner in the (Victoria’s) biggest race,” he said.
“I got into the game through Lewy and his friendship with Jase (Lee). Lewy and I played under 16s together then onto the (Geelong) Falcons and then six years at the Lions as well, where we lived together,” he said.
“It’s a bit disappointing he won’t be at Brisbane again this year, but exciting at the same time the opportunity he’ll get with the Swans.”
Gardiner hopes the Lions will build-on great signs they showed in 2019.
“All the signs are good, but you know how hard it is to be one of the top teams. Still, we’re in great hands and it’s exciting to be heading into it again after such a good 2019,” he said.
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