Derby Day: Why Cherry Tortoni combination of Patrick Payne and Billy Egan is worth cheering for
How the skinny kid from Mansfield made it all the way to the big smoke and now gets to ride one of the favourites in the Group 1 Victoria Derby at Flemington. And why Katie Mallyon will be cheering him on.
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Billy Egan came up to me and said: “Are you going to be a jockey?”
I was wearing my dad’s green and gold silks at the time, with goggles down, pegged up in the irons of a saddle covered in a Seymour Race Club saddlecloth.
“Yes I am,” I replied and then ran off, wondering “who was that kid?”
I was about six years old and about to enter the fancy dress competition at the Mansfield Show.
Little did I know then, that skinny 10-year-old kid from Mansfield would one day get the chance to ride one of the favourites, Cherry Tortoni, in a Group 1 Victoria Derby at Flemington.
The young horseman I saw riding a 14-hand pony around the Mansfield Show, has grown to become an accomplished jockey with the help of agent Matt Alesci and top trainer Patrick “Paddy” Payne.
On Saturday, Egan gets some reward for the hard work and effort he has put in, riding at country and provincial race meetings for many years and hoping to land on the right horse to win a Group 1.
We all grow up dreaming of winning the Melbourne Cup.
You do realise pretty quickly in this game how hard it is to win any Group 1 let alone the Cup.
Just ask the thousands of great riders around Australia, both past and present, without a Group 1 triumph next to their name.
A spring classic like the Victoria Derby is right up the top of any jockey’s wishlist.
I know it would be a big thrill for Billy to break through on Saturday, but more so because the horse is being prepared by Paddy, a great mate, mentor and employer of his.
Paddy, a true and brilliant horseman, won 19 Group 1s as a jockey, including the 2002 Cox Plate, but got too big to have a long career in the saddle.
He too will be nervous on Saturday, hoping to win his first and much-deserved Group 1 as a trainer.
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Billy has ridden 148 winners for Paddy, including 44 of the trainer’s 118 winners last season.
I rang Billy this week to find out what led to their successful partnership.
His first ride for Paddy was a winner — Cellarmaster in the 2012 Swan Hill Cup.
The combination grew stronger and stronger until a big holiday (four-month ban) had Billy on the outer.
He came back too heavy and rang Paddy to see if he could ride track work to start getting the weight down.
His affinity with the horses shone through and once the weight came off Paddy started to put him on again.
“Everyone works so, so hard at Paddy’s (stable) and takes pride in their horses, especially the jumpers,” Egan said.
“So to have a horse like Cherry Tortoni to fly the flag for the team in the spring is pretty exciting.”
Cherry Tortoni will jump from barrier 14 on Saturday — on the back up from his arrogant win in the Group 2 Moonee Valley Vase — but I don’t think that will worry him.
He should find his way back in the field again and when Billy thinks the time is right he will ask Cherry Tortoni for the supreme effort in the big and beautiful Flemington straight.
Only then we will know if the horse is like his uncle, the champion Tie The Knot, and stay the distance.
I know who I’ll be cheering for.
KATIE’S TIPS
- Cherry Tortoni
- Young Werther
- Albarado
- Redwood Shadow