CHAVES AND CAMPTON - TAKE 3!

By Graham Potter | Friday, January 17, 2025

In his eleventh ride in his third stint in Australia, jockey Elione Chavez was back in the winner’s enclosure when partnering the Stephen Lee trained Pressalong at Ballina today.

The likable Brazilian, who is based in Sweden where he just landed yet another Scandinavian Jockey Premiership with ninety-nine winners, relishes his time in Australia, not least because of the weather.

“It is very cold back there (in Sweden) at the moment,” said Chavez. “They don’t race there over the winter, so it is a good time to be here.”

Chavez, who brings a host of international experience to any riding engagement … he has ridden in Sweden, Singapore, Dubai, the USA, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Australia … has again linked up with last season’s Gold Coast Premiership winning trainer Adam Campton.

It’s a familiar and happy arrangement.

“When he went back home (the first time) it was our loss,” stated Campton. “Obviously we know how good he is with the horses. He had built such a good bond with our horses and our staff as well … so we kept in contact. I kept bugging him to come back”

And come back he did, with Chavez’s second stint at the Gold Coast coming to an end in April 2024.

The decision to return to Sweden on both of those occasions was not taken on a whim. It had less to do about racing and more to do with the fact that the Chaves wanted to spend time with his young son who lives with his ex-wife in Sweden, a totally understandable pull between professional and personal priorities.

But Chaves remained in touch with Campton … and eight months after he last departed Australian shores, it was Chaves – Take 3, with the rider back based at the Gold Coast and raring for action … and the on-going endorsement he continues to receive from Campton is as good a promotion as any jockey is likely to receive from a trainer.

Speaking during Chaves’s second visit, Campton said, “I might have to lock him up and try and keep him here somehow. That’s how highly we value him.

“He has travelled the world and, apart from all of the racing expertise he brings from those experiences, he is a kind soul … a very good person … and is an absolute pleasure to deal with, making him an absolute all-around asset to us.”