Trainer Gerald Ryan reins in young winners as apprentice Jye McNeil bags first city treble

GERALD Egan is a good trainer of horses but he is a better trainer of kids and racing’s unsung moulder of apprentice jockeys.

Jye McNeil rides the last of his winning treble, Horacio, at Sandown. Picture: Getty Imag

MOUNTAIN man Gerald Egan is a good trainer of horses but he is a better trainer of kids.

Egan is racing’s unsung moulder of apprentice jockeys.

Luke Nolen, Nicholas Hall, Billy Egan and former gun apprentice Michael Pritchard all learned their craft under the astute eye of Egan.

All learned to ride cattleman style, traipsing over the mountains on horseback before wandering anywhere near a racecourse.

The latest Egan-moulded horseman is 20-year-old Jye McNeil, who rode a treble at Sandown yesterday.

McNeil said Egan had a simple, foolproof philosophy.

“His main thing probably is to learn to ride before you learn to be a jockey,’’ McNeil said.

“It’s really good down there, I really like it.’’

Country-kid McNeil, who has been with Egan “since day one’’ said yesterday’s treble, his first in town was “a dream come true’’.

McNeil’s winners were Khutulun (Race 4), Girl Guide (Race 6) and Horacio (Race 7).

At the other end of the spectrum yesterday was Steven King, the timeless champion who rode a double.

Jye McNeil after riding Girl Guide to win the sixth event at Sandown. Picture: Getty Images

His first winner Corregio (Race 3) was well in the betting but King proved the nemesis of quaddie punters still alive into the last leg, scoring aboard longshot Shadow Ninja.

Meanwhile, two of yesterday’s impressive Sandown winners might be destined for the Adelaide May carnival.

Trainer Doug Harrison is contemplating a quick back-up in Saturday’s Sportingbet Stakes at Morphettville for Search Squad, winner of yesterday’s New Zealand Bloodstock Handicap.

“I think he has the makings of quite a handy horse,” Harrison said.

“It took a little while to get him going, but he’s always shown a lot of ability. He has just kept improving.

“He can really ping off a high speed.

“If he had won last week I was going to take him over to Adelaide, but now we’ll just have to see what we do with him.”

Girl Guide, tenacious winner over 1300m — and now a winner of four of five starts — will tackle the Proud Miss Stakes at Morphettville on May 10.

“Why she is going so good, David will whip over to Adelaide for one of those black-type races,” David Hayes’ foreman Bruno Rouge-Serret said.

Veteran jockey Steven King gets home aboard Coreggio. Picture: Getty Images