MATTHEW MCGILLIVRAY - A YOUNG MAN ON THE MARCH

By Graham Potter with Matthew McGillivray | Monday, October 16, 2017

Matthew McGillivray landed a personal best at Doomben on Saturday powering home four metropolitan winners on the nine race card. That was merely the cherry on the top for the young rider ... for the moment at least ... because McGillivray, whose career had previously reached several crossroads where a wrong choice was just a step away, is now a man on the march.

His riding skills are now buoyed by smart decision making and good judgement all sparked by healthy dose of self-confidence. The fact that he goes about his business with a huge smile and infectious friendliness not only lights up his success but it also serves to present racing in the kind of positive light that can only serve the industry well.

Of course, like everybody else, McGillivray is not the finished article and nor is his current success any guarantee of future prosperity in his career. Clearly there will be more challenges to come but right now he certainly deserves every credit for what he has achieved at this early stage of his career which, not that long ago, looked to be an unlikely outcome.

HRO’s Graham Potter spoke to McGillivray who traced his path to the present, starting with his time in Sydney.

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"My stint down south in Sydney changed me. I feel like I am a different person.

"I went through a period where I had a lot of things going wrong that could have led to my downfall. My father passed away during that time and it just sort of hit me that I had to straighten myself up. I just said to myself, look, I’m here. I’m going to make it.

"Not that anything came right immediately. It actually did go pear shaped for a bit.

"The first meeting after my father passed away I had seven rides at Randwick for Gary Portelli and others but after three rides I had to pull out because I was in the wrong headspace. It didn’t look good for me personally to be doing that but I wasn’t prepared to put all my fellow jockeys in danger because I knew my mind really wasn’t on the job.

"My motivation in going to Sydney in the first place was obviously to get experience. It was going to be for three months. Three months wasn’t long enough because I wasn’t getting many rides so I actually persevered for another three months.

"I moved to Jason Coyle. I was given a bit of an opportunity there at Warwick Farm which was great. I ended up transferring there and staying another six months so it was twelve months away all up."

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"It was twelve months that did me a lot of good both as a person and as a rider. In terms of actually progressing my career in real terms though it was a very inconsistent time.

"I’d get several rides one week and one ride the following week ... and I’d travel three hours, three-and-a-half hours for a ride.

"I know everybody has to do that if they want to make the grade but I had to make a decision along the way about what I was going to do next.

"I knew I was putting in a lot of hard work but I was also very aware of how hard it was to get noticed. There are so many riders.

"It came to a stage in my last three weeks there that I had about four rides. I felt that things were deteriorating instead of moving forward.

"On the up side though I knew I had picked up valuable experience ... not just in riding and watching but also by listening to and talking to the boys there because they are so calm, cool and collected and, above all, they are all so helpful there. They pass a lot of things on.

"I felt I had learnt a lot and I wanted to put that to good use so I had to make a call about what I was going to do next.

"Perhaps as importantly, I also felt I had matured during my time in Sydney. I think the Sydney experience made me a man ... the atmosphere, the people, the hard work ... all these things came together in a way which had such a positive overall influence on me.

"It could have gone really pear shaped if I’d allowed the times when things were tough to get to me but I overcame that challenge and, by succeeding in doing that, I gained a huge amount of confidence in what I could do moving forward."

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"I took a deep breath and decided to come back to Queensland.

"I set my priorities. I decided to take it step by step. I wouldn’t exclude anyone or anything from my options.

"It wasn’t quite like starting over again but I knew I obviously couldn’t expect to just pitch up and get rides ... so again it was down to hard work ... but with a plan.

"I believed that if I kept putting myself out there the opportunities would come.

"I was looking for rides from whoever would put me on. Like I said I wanted to keep my options open. I’d pop my head in every stable as much as I could to ask if there was anything there for me and to try and get support wherever I could.

"That’s an on-going thing obviously. That job is never done, but I am getting the rewards.

"The four winners on Saturday was my best performance on a Saturday meeting. It was pretty surreal for me.

"My career has picked up a lot of momentum in recent times and that has had a big, positive impact on my confidence.

"I had to be on the right horses obviously to get those four wins but I have no doubt my confidence level was an important factor in those results."

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"Actually, in spite of the pressure involved in moving back and working towards building some of kind of momentum, I have been in a very good headspace since returning to Brisbane ... not least because I am in a very happy relationship with my partner, Aimee Holland.

"That was another plus from my Sydney experience. I met Amee in Sydney. She was working for Mark De Montfort who was stabled right next to Jason Coyle.

"I met her there. Everything went beautifully. She has just been an amazing force in my life. I persuaded her to come back to Brisbane with me.

"I proposed and she said yes.... and now she is fourteen weeks pregnant.

"All of that has helped me grow up very quickly on a personal level as well and it has given me a solid grounding.

"Personally and professionally everything has changed so rapidly for me and so much for the better over the last two years.

"I am really grateful."

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"Looking ahead, the two pending suspension appeal rulings I have hanging over me does make things a bit hard. One was from June and one was in August and there is still no final decision on either of them.

"I tried to put all of that aside and just get on with things but I am very aware with that situation that I can’t really afford to make many mistakes out there. Until it’s sorted out those two appeals are still on my shoulders and they can bring it up with anything that might happen.

"I did get a twelve day suspension out of last Wednesday’s meeting. The incident was my fault. I’m not appealing that one ... but I did think the twelve days was a bit harsh.

"I’m not certain if the stewards actually took into account the other two suspensions that are under appeal but they did bring it up saying that I had two pending appeals.

"With those appeals still in play I thought it should be a case of being innocent until a final verdict is reached. That is why the appeal is there and that is why I’m been riding under a stay of proceedings.

"Either way, I was disappointed with the twelve days but I understand stewards have their job to do.

"I’ll be back after twelve days and hopefully things will continue to flow on from there."

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