THE TEGAN TOUCH - MY BIG NIGHT OUT AT MOONEE VALLEY THE HIGHLIGHT OF A DIFFICULT WEEK
By Tegan Harrison | Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Tegan Harrison has joined the HRO stable. A little known fact is that last season Tegan rode more winners than any other apprentice in Australia which means the city success she is currently enjoying has been built on a solid foundation of hard work spurred on by a strong level of ‘dedication and desire’, two factors that fellow HRO blogger and Premiership leader Michael Cahill labels as being essential ingredients behind any success story. ‘The Tegan Touch’, the personal blog of this exciting young rider will appear every Wednesday exclusively on HRO.
Racing at Moonee Valley last Friday night turned into a really good experience for me.
They have these Apprentice Race Series every year. I went to Sydney last year and I ran second to Katelyn Mallyon, who is a rider that I’m very fond of. She rides very well, so it was no disgrace to get beaten by her last year … and this year I was asked where I would like to go and I thought it be nice to have a go in another direction.
It is hard to get into places like Moonee Valley but when an opportunity like that comes about then you can, so I went down to Melbourne for the apprentices race … and when the acceptances came out for the rest of the meeting I just chased rides from the people who didn’t have riders down.
Andrew Sawden actually used to ride in Queensland and he trained a little bit in Queensland. He has been watching me ride in Queensland and he said he would put me on. He said he thought I went well and he put me on a horse called Easy To Look At in the first race.
He also did say he thought it was a good chance (it was 50-1) and he wasn’t wrong. Just winning that race alone was a really terrific experience.
Easy To Look At just snuck up in-between them. We were a bunched-up pack and he was sort of hidden in the run … we were probably just hiding there a little bit … that’s why few saw us coming until it was too late for them to do anything about us.
We didn’t hide on the line though.
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Riding a new track … paying attention to how everything is done down there and all that was happening around me, I was definitely intent on taking as much out of the whole experience as I could. As I said, it is an opportunity that doesn’t come along every day.
It’s amazing how professional they are down there in Melbourne ... the other riders and the effort they put in right down to their presentation of their gear. It is a very competitive environment there.
It does make you realise that you can get a bit complacent sometimes and it makes you want to lift to that really professional level.
That doesn’t mean we are less professional or less competitive in real terms up here but, in general, it is probably a more laid-back attitude in Queensland which is good.
Racing is fun here and it was fun down there too, but it just very different … it was a different experience.
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While it was a great night for me, the trip hasn’t fuelled any desire in me to spread my wings at this stage of my career.
I am happy to stay in these parts and get rides from trainers who are supporting me. If they have horses they want me to ride here I will be on them. If they have one they think could go well down south and they ever wanted me to ride it I would go down there and ride it quite happily.
But, no, I’m certainly not looking to move anywhere in the short-term.
Somebody actually called the other day because they thought I was moving to Sydney. That is not the case at all.
I’m staying.
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While Friday night at Moonee Valley was pretty exciting, the rest of the week … as it was with other riders … was pretty hard for me with the cancellation of a string of race-meetings because of the wet weather.
I like racing. I think you need to keep racing to stay fit and stay focussed. I think you need to be riding a lot, so I think it is hard when racing is called off because you are not out there doing it as much and then is it a little bit … not new … but you are just not on the ball as when you are riding all the time.
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The cushion track is not one of my preferred tracks to ride on but it’s a track which has keep racing going under the sort of weather conditions we have experienced in the last couple of weeks.
The races are still on. Horses get to go around, so there are a lot of plusses about the cushion track in these particular circumstances.
I’d like to see them transfer more meetings to the cushion track where necessary in the future instead of just calling them off.
I know there is big drama though with trainers and owners not wanting to run on the cushion when they’ve accepted for the turf, but when we are experiencing weather like we have been I think it leaves you with no option.
The grass is the preferred surface. It is a better track to ride on, but the cushion track should be used as a back-up track where it definitely serves a good purpose.
Speak to you next week,
Till then,
Tegan
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