‘Game-changer’: Sports psychologist helps Group 1 jockey Kyle Wilson-Taylor curtail suspensions

Kyle Wilson-Taylor has revealed how regular visits from a sports psychologist have been the making of him and helped to keep him out of the stewards’ room.

Kyle Wilson-Taylor has made giant strides cleaning up his riding, with the help of a sports psychologist. Picture: Grant Peters - Trackside Photography.

Young gun Group 1 winning jockey Kyle Wilson-Taylor has revealed how seeing a sports psychologist has been a “game-changer” for his career and helped to curtail a wave of riding suspensions.

It has been clear for some time that the determined Queensland jockey is destined for big things and his talents were to the fore last year when breaking into the elite Group 1 club as he scored the Tatt’s Tiara on Palaisipan.

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But repeated riding suspensions, mostly for careless riding, kept happening and were frustrating the talented young jockey who kept coming to the attention of stewards.

An order from stewards that Wilson-Taylor see a sports psychologist was the start of a positive change.

Wilson-Taylor has now been seeing sports psychologist Matt Ahlberg for almost a year and it has changed the direction of his career.

He quips that his partner, fellow Brisbane jockey Angela Jones, now receives more suspensions from stewards than he does.

“I had a really bad record for suspensions, I just kept getting suspended,” Wilson-Taylor told Racenet.

“I wasn’t going out there to cause interference, but it felt like I would be suspended for two or three weeks then back for a week and then suspended again.

“I don’t know why it started, but I reckon there was a season that I spent half of it on the sidelines suspended.

“It got to the point where stewards said that I needed to go and see a sports psychologist.

“It was a slow burn at the start, he comes around to my house and sits here for a couple of hours and we talk.

“But it has now really been a game-changer for me.

“I was someone who could get a bit flustered, but he has trained me to train my mind to handle all the situations that are thrown at me.

“I would explain to him a situation that I might struggle with and he would give me cue words and things to practice, breathing exercises and all different sorts of things.”

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Kyle Wilson-Taylor returning after scoring the Group 3 George Moore Stakes at Doomben last Saturday. Picture: Grant Peters, Trackside Photography.

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Wilson-Taylor, who won a pair of features at Doomben last Saturday including scoring in the Group 3 George Moore Stakes on Hidden Wealth, has enjoyed working with Ahlberg.

He says the proof is in the pudding and, these days, he is a much better and much cleaner rider.

“Without a doubt I am getting suspended a lot less, without him I would still be getting suspended every fortnight,” Wilson-Taylor said.

“My record has dramatically improved.

“I think this season, Ange has had more suspensions than me.

“Ange and I have a bit of a joke, that if Matt doesn’t come to see me one time, I am walking around the house not really knowing what do to.

“He has been good for my weight as well.

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“We figured out there was a direct correlation between me getting suspended and me riding too light.

“I would ride too light and I'd be tired and, bang, I would do something without thinking.

“After a few times, we started to understand what was happening.

“He made me realise that I need to get my weight right.

“Now, I've got more clarity and my judgement is right and I don't make silly mistakes.”

Originally published as ‘Game-changer’: Sports psychologist helps Group 1 jockey Kyle Wilson-Taylor curtail suspensions