The little reasons the Melbourne Cup’s top jockeys will put safety first
Riding alongside superstar jockeys were their children, each another reason to make sure they steer a safe course.
Michael Walker has a special reason to celebrate on Melbourne Cup day, regardless of how the in-form stayer Prince of Arran fares.
The New Zealander’s daughter Layla, who is in Melbourne for the famous race, will celebrate a birthday on Tuesday.
The star jockey is determined to deliver a remarkable present aboard the Geelong Cup winner, which also placed in last year’s Melbourne Cup behind Cross Counter and has excelled since arriving in Australia.
“It is my daughter’s birthday … and things happen for a reason, so I am hoping (it is an omen),” he said.
Walker was a renowned stayer of a different type in his youth, with his ability to go the distance on the party circuit considered world class.
As he joked at the Melbourne Cup eve parade, there was once a time when he would have been aboard a plane to “Vegas for a pool party somewhere” if he won the Cup.
“A few of us boys, every year we would put our passports in the glove box of the car (so that we could be) ready to jump on a plane and go to Vegas,” he said.
The 35-year-old still carries the swagger of a rock star but with two children and a third due later this month, he is mindful of his responsibilities.
The opportunity to win a Melbourne Cup and claim 5 per cent of the $4.4 million on offer to the jockey is a significant incentive for the 24 riders in action in the big race.
But one of the key reasons Racing Victoria stewards issue strict edicts to jockeys on the importance of safe riding was on display at the parade.
Riding alongside superstar jockeys such as Walker, Craig Williams, Hugh Bowman and Kerrin McEvoy on Bourke and Swanston streets to Federation Square were their children, each another reason to make sure they steer a safe course during the 3200m handicap.
Williams will ride local hopeful Vow And Declare in his bid to claim the Cup for the first time, which would allow him to complete a career grand slam.
Every parade, he dresses his younger children in the silks of the horse he is on, with their bright orange a feature on a very grey Monday in Melbourne.
“It just shows you that we, as riders and what we do, there is a lot that goes on and a lot of our success is due to the support that we get and a lot of that is from our families,” he told The Australian.
“They do an amazing sacrifice. Mine do around my career, but this is a time where we can share some of it and give back.”
On race day, there is a strict edict at the Williams home.
“They do not wake me up on race day. My alarm is set to a strict time, and then I work out and stretch, eat and go to the track nice and early before the traffic gets going,” he said.
Bowman is also chasing his first Melbourne Cup but on Monday he was more concerned with tucking his daughters Bambi and Paige underneath an umbrella during the downpour that struck as the parade started.
The 39-year-old will ride Twilight Payment for Irish trainer Joseph O’Brien.
He said there was a joy in being able to show his kids what their dad does each week.
“It is a privilege,” he said. “They are still very young but it is great to get them involved. They know it is dad’s work, that I am off to the races, but they don’t really know what it is about.
“It is really cool to just get involved. Just excellent.”
He said a day at the races presented a challenge in trying to make sure he was able to see his kids before they went to bed each night. “Your life revolves around their time,” he said.
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