THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN: BROOKER'S TRACK RECORD IS ONE OF THE SEASON'S HIGHLIGHTS

By Graham Potter | Saturday, June 24, 2017

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily.

Tiffani Brooker’s march towards the Brisbane Metropolitan Apprentices Premiership has been one of the individual highlights of the season.

It takes more than above average ability to get to this lofty position. Many young riders have that ability but, for a variety of reasons (as we saw earlier in the week with an apprentice being suspended for three months for betting), some never give themselves a chance of a clear run.

Not Brooker!

There is a resolve and purpose there which, aligned to her developing talent, has carried her further, by a runaway margin, than any other apprentice this season.

With progress came opportunities which the Sunshine Coast based apprentice has grasped with relish. Riding on competitive horses against the top city riders has helped take her skills to a new level and has also seen her, by necessity, redefine and embrace the degree of mental toughness required to cope with that challenge.

The road to the top only gets steeper from here but this article is not about how far Brooker still has to go or how long she has to sustain her focus and results to climb to the next tier in the jockey’s ranks. It is about how far she has come in a short space of time.

Two rides at Doomben today emphasize that point.

Fresh from her big win in the Eye Liner at Ipswich last week, Brooker will partner Rare Occurrence in the Group 1 Tatts Tiara, riding for her boss Stuart Kendrick, whose support and guidance has been pivotal to Brooker’s success.

She is the only apprentice in this Group 1 line-up, where she will jostle for elbow room with the likes of Hugh Bowman and Kerrin McEvoy.

Then, one race later, Brooker will ride Steel Zip in the Group 3 W J Healy Stakes for trainer Pat Duff.

Duff, of course, has been a mentor in his time to the likes of Mike Pelling and Jim Byrne, amongst others, so the chances are he knows a good apprentice when he sees one.

For that reason, perhaps Duff giving Brooker his tick of approval in a race in which she cannot claim is the best compliment of all.

More articles