JUSTIN HUXTABLE AND LUKE TARRANT LOOKING TO REVIVE THEIR CAREERS IN SOUTH-EAST QUEENSLAND

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Justin Huxtable and Luke Tarrant are back in the saddle in South-East Queensland.

Both returned to race riding action in the state at the Sunshine Coast last Sunday.

The two young riders have had their moments in the sun, but their respective careers have also suffered turbulence, albeit in vastly different individual circumstances and with different degrees of seriousness, which has stunted the normal, natural progress they could each have expected to make … to a marked degree.

For Tarrant, who famously won the $2 million Magic Millions Two-year-Old Classic as an apprentice aboard Le Chef back in 2015, the setbacks have been largely self-inflicted, coming via a series of serious indiscretions … and he knows that his future conduct both on and off the track needs to be exemplary this time around if he is to fulfill his obvious riding potential.

“I am raring to go,” said Tarrant. “I’m about as keen as I ever been, I reckon. I haven’t been back at trackwork a ton, but I feel bloody good.

“I haven’t called for a lot of rides yet because, as I said, I haven’t done a lot of trackwork yet and I’m not quite sure where my fitness is at. You don’t know until you get out here and race.

“I base myself at Toowoomba now. I do most of my riding for Tony and Maddy Sears. They have been very good to me. From the first day I walked back in the stables … Tony said, absolutely … jump on one.

“I knew I had to leave where I was before. I knew I had to change something … and the Toowoomba guys have always been good to me. The Sears stable put me on from the get-go … Kevin Kemp and others at Toowoomba, have always been good, so I thought it wisest to move there.

For Huxtable, whose riding options in the past have been plagued by a combination of a few relatively minor indiscretions and intermittent weight problems, like Tarrant, his primary goal right now is to revive his career in South-East Queensland.

The winner of the Brisbane Apprentice Premiership in the 2020/21 season, Huxtable was happy to be back in Queensland after ticking his hometown Kangaroo Island Cup win off his bucket list in his last ride before heading back north.

“Yeah, I am back to stay,” said Huxtable. “I’ve just gone out on my own as a senior. I just want to make my own way for a while and see if I can make my own path.

“I’ve been doing quite a bit up at the Sunshine Coast for Stuart Kendrick. I’ve been riding trackwork there on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

“I do ride work in Brisbane during the week for Will Hulbert and Lindsay Gough … but my main work is at the Sunshine Coast. I just try to spread the load a bit.”

Huxtable and Tarrant face no easy task though with some better-established senior jockeys already feeling the pinch as racing in Queensland currently enjoys a rich vein of talent amongst its riding ranks.

It is arguably as competitive a riding environment as it has ever been with boom apprentices also taking up a fair percentage of the available rides.

Even when Huxtable and Tarrant were going through their unhappy times, nobody ever queried their riding expertise … but, the obvious point, as many have found to their cost, is that ability can only take you so far.

Any jockey’s good fortune depends as much, if not more, on the amount of support they receive from owners and trainers as it does on their inherent ability … and it will be interesting to see if Huxtable and Tarrant can work their contacts and swing those numbers back in their favour in the coming months to the degree that could make a critical difference to their future prospects.

For now though, they are back to give it a go!

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