Zac Lloyd, Angela Jones lead record-breaking apprentices
The statistics indicate that Australia’s apprentice riding ranks have rarely been as strong as they are right now.
Zac Lloyd’s historic success in the very competitive race to become the champion Sydney apprentice for the 2022-23 racing season, puts him, statistically, alongside some of Australia’s most prominent riders.
Only four apprentice jockeys since comprehensive records were kept in 1935 have ridden more winners on Sydney metropolitan tracks in a season than 19-year-old Lloyd who confirmed his status as this year’s champion with his 76th metro win aboard Insurrection (Russian Revolution) for Michael Freedman at Randwick on Saturday.
Not since Wayne Harris burst onto the scene with 89 winners in the 1980-81 racing season, has a New South Wales apprentice ridden more seasonal metro winners.
That means Lloyd has eclipsed the likes of Hugh Bowman (1999-00) (56.5), Tye Angland (2006-07) (60) and Tommy Berry (2009-10) (50) in terms of wins in his champion apprentice season. That trio, the only Sydney apprentices to surpass 50 metro wins in a campaign this century, have subsequently combined for 153 Group 1 victories.
What makes Lloyd’s success even more meritorious is that it has been achieved in the most competitive Sydney apprentice jockeys’ race in many, many years. Dylan Gibbons finished second to Lloyd on 72 wins, enough to win the title in any other season this century. Tyler Schiller, the champion apprentice of last year when he rode 45 Sydney winners, improved that total by 16 this season, but in a remarkable class, could only finish third.
Gibbons and Schiller do have one-up on Lloyd as both claimed their first Group 1 wins this season, Gibbons on Explosive Jack (Jakkalberry) in the Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) and Schiller aboard Mariamia (Toronado) in The Galaxy (Gr 1, 1100m). Lloyd was twice placed in top-flight races this campaign, finishing third on both Electric Girl (Declaration Of War) in the Canterbury Stakes (Gr 1, 1300m) and More Secrets (More Than Ready) in the Queen Of The Turf (Gr 1, 1600m).
Sydney jockeys’ premiership
| Jockey | Wins | Prizemoney | Rides | Strike Rate |
| James McDonald | 96 | $17,172,020 | 469 | 20.47% |
| Zac Lloyd* | 76 | $5,675,400 | 357 | 21.29% |
| Dylan Gibbons* | 72 | $8,883,200 | 561 | 12.83% |
| Tyler Schiller* | 61 | $8,641,400 | 556 | 10.97% |
| Nash Rawiller | 53 | $9,738,275 | 278 | 19.06% |
| Tim Clark | 51 | $7,593,675 | 378 | 13.49% |
| Jason Collett | 50 | $6,278,200 | 488 | 10.25% |
| Kerrin McEvoy | 48 | $7,910,500 | 489 | 9.82% |
| Brenton Avdulla | 37.5 | $12,026,000 | 345 | 10.87% |
| Sam Clipperton | 32 | $7,607,625 | 340 | 9.41% |
*apprentice
Another remarkable statistic for Lloyd is how he made the most of relatively limited chances at metropolitan level. Suspensions and other absences saw him ride at only 55 of 114 metropolitan Sydney race meetings this season, meaning he averaged an impressive 1.38 winners per meeting.
His overall winning strike rate on Sydney metro tracks this season was 21.3 per cent, superior to every other jockey with more than 15 rides, including overall Sydney jockeys’ premiership winner James McDonald, who rode his 96 winners at 20.5 per cent. Nash Rawiller was third on that statistic on 19.1 per cent.
Of significant assistance for Lloyd in terms of that number of wins was the fact he was apprenticed to Godolphin. He becomes the first champion Sydney apprentice attached to the global powerhouse, with whom he rode 29 winners across all tracks this season at 21.5 per cent.
That represents 27.4 per cent of Lloyd’s overall winners for the season, 106, with another 13 winners [12.3 per cent] coming via Team Hawkes and seven [6.6 per cent] from Chris Waller.
The representation of three top stables at the top of his list, speaks well for the future success of Lloyd, as he seeks to emulate the deeds of his father Jeff, whose extraordinary globe-trotting career included over 4000 wins, 94 of them at top-flight level.
The honour of being crowned New South Wales’ top apprentice has fallen to Gibbons, who ends his 2022-23 season on 112.5 wins state-wide, 1.5 clear of Schiller and 6.5 clear of Lloyd. Gibbons, also a son of a jockey, in his case, Andrew Gibbons, has got within three of matching his number of wins in 2021-22, and already has 315 winners in just three seasons in the saddle.
Gibbons will also finish as the leading apprentice in Australia, just 0.5 in front of Schiller, who also had a winner in Queensland this season. Neither has a ride on the final day of the season on Monday.
The leading metropolitan-performed apprentice in Australia in 2022-23 has been Brisbane-based Angela Jones, who rode 79 winners. Apprenticed to Tony Gollan, Jones had her own extraordinary campaign capped by a double for her boss at Doomben on Saturday.
Jones’ total of 79 would have been enough for her to win the past four Brisbane metropolitan jockeys’ premierships, but this year it sees her place third behind James Orman (104) and Ben Thompson (93), Nevertheless it is an amazing achievement for a jockey who didn’t have her first metro ride until 12 months ago.
She succeeds her fiancé Kyle Wilson-Taylor as Brisbane’s champion apprentice, and has ridden the second most Australian winners, 97, of any female jockey this season, just one fewer than WA-based Natasha Faithfull. Of those wins for Jones, 46 have come on Gollan-trained horses.
National metro apprentice jockeys’ premiership
| Jockey | Wins | Prizemoney | Rides | Strike Rate |
| Angela Jones | 79 | $4,087,860 | 516 | 15.31% |
| Zac Lloyd | 76 | $5,675,400 | 357 | 21.29% |
| Dylan Gibbons | 72 | $8,883,200 | 561 | 12.83% |
| Tyler Schiller | 62 | $8,946,400 | 582 | 10.65% |
| Holly Watson | 44.5 | $2,920,277 | 383 | 11.62% |
Carleen Hefel claimed the Melbourne metropolitan jockeys premiership with 35 winners, six more than her major rival Celine Gaudray. Hefel topped her breakout season with a double at Moonee Valley on Saturday.
Hefel finished fourth in the overall Victorian metro premiership which was taken out by Blake Shinn (66) in his first season since returning to Australia from Hong Kong. Jamie Kah (59) finished second ahead of Craig Williams (40). Hefel rode 85 winners in all in Victoria this season to be the leading apprentice statewide as well. The overall Victorian title was taken out by Daniel Stackhouse.
Holly Watson claimed the Perth metro apprentice title with 44.5 wins, while Brayden Gaerth won the statewide title apprentice honours with 70. William Pike finished the top metro rider (101 winners) in WA for a record 12th time.
In Adelaide, the top apprentice was Ben Price with 32 metro wins, while Alana Livesey rode the most winners of any apprentice in South Australia with 65. The overall metro jockeys title was won by Jake Toeroek with 48.
Tasmania’s top apprentice was Chelsea Baker on 34 wins for the season, while the leading metro jockey title was claimed by Brendon McCoull, who withstood a late challenge from David Pires on the final metro meeting at Hobart on Sunday to win by one, 54 to 53.
It was a similarly close finish to the overall Australian jockeys’ premiership, which will be claimed by Aaron Bullock for the first time. Bullock, based at Newcastle, has come from six wins behind Orman at the start of July to ride 35 winners for the month and moved to 204.5 wins as of Sunday night, with a further six rides to come at Wellington on Monday.
Orman’s season, and tilt at the title, ended with his seven rides at the Sunshine Coast on Sunday resulting in two winners, taking him to 201.
Bullock’s total is more than double the 92 winners he rode in the 2021-22 season and a significant improvement on his previous career-best of 106 in 2020-21. His strike rate stands at better than 25.7 per cent with one day of the season remaining – the fourth highest of any Australian jockey this season with more than 100 rides.