ROBBIE FRADD AND THAT 'SMALL PART' HE PLAYED IN THE SUCCESS OF ANGELA JONES AND EMILY LANG

By Graham Potter | Thursday, July 31, 2025

Robbie Fradd has been there for Angela Jones and Emily Lang whenever needed for more than the last twelve months.

The former top jockey plays the mentoring role to perfection. He is always available when needed, a quiet presence in the background …never looking to turn any spotlight on himself … but strong and sure in his advice which is worth its weight in gold to those prepared listen to it given it is drawn from Fradd’s wealth of experience following decades in the saddle during which time he recorded Group 1 wins in his native South Africa, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong.

When you also pencil in the fact that Fradd won the Jockey Premiership in Hong Kong in the 2000/2001 season, no more credentials are required to realise what a mentoring force he is to those wise enough to seek his help.

Fradd himself would stop reading this now … he would say something like, ‘enough of the attention, just get on with it’ … so let’s do that and move on to the insight Fradd offers on Jones and Lang, the two riders who have put racing in Queenland so much in the headlines in recent months, in the process doing more than their fair share to promote the industry.

“Working with both of them has been great. They are both easy to work with,” offered Fradd.

“I try to drum it into even the very young apprentices that you have to have a lot of dedication and be prepared to sacrifice a lot if you want to get to the top … and that’s what Ange and Emily have done to get where they are.

“It’s easier said than done …you have to put a lot into it, so I have to take my hat off to both of them.

“When you look where they are now … first and second in the Brisbane Jockey’s Premiership with Ange winning an historic premiership being the first female to do so, and Emily winning the Brisbane Apprentice Jockey’s Premiership … and then realise that they haven’t been riding that long yet they are already making history, it’s quite amazing.

“You know Emily has only been riding for three years and this was her first full season in town.

“For both of them, what they have achieved at this early stage of their careers in such a short space of time is huge. It is really huge. It’s massive.

“Apart from the dedication and the sacrifice, both of their attitudes to what racing throws at them has been absolutely outstanding,” continued Fradd.

“I always say, look at the Sydney jocks when they come up … the top guys. In a race … maybe they get cut off, or something happens, and it doesn’t go according to plan, they get off the horse afterwards and they move on and their focus shifts to the next race. That one is done and dusted and left behind.

“That is the way they operate. You have got to be like that if you want to be in this industry and stay competitive … and both Ange and Emily have carried that out very well.

“They have a achieved a lot. Yes, they have got great support from Tony Gollan, but you still have got to get them past the post. Tony will not make it easy for them. They have to do the work to earn their rides. That they have done so in a top, demanding stable is another feather in their caps.

‘They’ve worked hard for it. It wasn’t just given to them.

“My arrangement with these riders also works well with Tony Gollan.

He, in fact, was the person who approached me, fairly soon after I had my health scare and retirement, to mentor Angela who was apprenticed to him at the time … so I have been with Ange from the start … and then Emily approached me to help her out when she was still with Steven O’Dea and Matt Hoysted before she moved across to become Gollan’s stable apprentice.

"Tony will talk to be about some of the rides. He is very good at reading a race so I’ll take what he says on board, and I’ll pass that on to Ange and Emily and point out that Tony was right showing them … just have a look there, you should have done that, or this.

“I also do a bit of form with them, but at the end of the day they know that, on the day, it is entirely up to the trainer’s instructions what path they will need to try to follow.

“There is no doubt that both Ange and Emily deserve their success.

“You know, the fact that the Premiership has never been won by a female before says it all.

“I’m just fortunate … very lucky in fact … that I was able to play a very small part in it.”

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