LAURA CHESHIRE TO RIDE IN KOREA

By Graham Potter | Friday, August 7, 2009

Gold Coast based jockey Laura Cheshire will add a new experience to her resume when she rides in Korea on Sunday.

Cheshire flew out to Sydney on Tuesday to collect her visa and, after an overnight stay, she headed for Korea with fellow rider Linda Meech where the duo will ride in an invitation race on Sunday.

“It’s a girl’s invitation race in Korea,” said Cheshire. “I got invited because they were looking for two girls from Australia. A trainer that trains over there - Peter Worsley is his name ... he is from Australia - he was coming for the yearling sales and they said to him, if you see any female jockeys over there that you think would be alright to come and ride in it, let us know and get them to do a resume and stuff.

“One of the guys at the track that the trainer is friends with said, ah well ... Laura’s a senior here and she rides at the coast every week-end ... bla bla bla, so the trainer and I met for dinner and he said, ok get a resume together and I would take it back to them. But he didn’t get back there until after the sales and they’d already got people ... they had other people looking for jockeys as well ... and they’d already got Clare Lindop and Linda Meech. That was before he’d even taken my resume back.

“So they said, no, there are only two spaces for Australia and they’d been filled. Anyway afterwards he e-mailed me and said Clare Lindop’s dropped out, so you’re in. I said, Oh, ok, cool. Then I didn’t hear from him for a couple of days. I heard through someone that Kathy O’Hara had applied for it as well, so I thought, ah, I’m not going to get it now.

“It turns out that Mark Sims, who I’m stable rider for, knows all the Korean trainers. So he spoke to this Head Steward and the guy said look we’ve Kathy and Laura that can fill the last bit, so Mark said well Laura rides for me and I can recommend her. So this guy said, ok, she can come then.

“The race that we are riding in is on the Sunday. It is just the one race that we are invited for. You can take rides in other races if trainers over there want to use you for any other races. There is a Friday meeting and a Sunday meeting while we are there. But they have to say if they want to use you. If not, well, you ride in just one race.

“You get paid to go and do it and it will be a totally new experience for me ... so, yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”

The Invitation race boasts a field of eleven runners and it will be run on the undercard for the Korean Oaks at Busan Race Park. Cheshire will Miss Ecton, who is rated as the main danger to the top fancy and stable companion Nambo Jeap, who is currently rated as the top three-year-old colt in Korea.

Cheshire