JAKE BAYLISS ON THE MOVE AS ANOTHER INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE BECKONS

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Jockey Jake Bayliss has just spent a couple of weeks in Queensland ... to see family and unwind ... but, effectively, he has also been in transit between Singapore, where he has completed a successful first season, and New Zealand, where he heads to now in search on new challenges.

“First of all, the last twelve months have been an amazing experience,” said Bayliss, taking up the story.

‘Singapore was a blessing for me ... you know, to go over there and ride in that part of the world and gain international experience.

“I had my fair share of success. I set myself a couple of goals for the season

“I wanted to ride twenty winners. I did that. I actually got my twentieth winner at my last meeting, so it felt good to fulfill that goal.

“Another goal was to ride some sort of Group winner. It didn’t matter what it was ... whether it was a Group 3 or whatever.

“I was very fortunate to win a Group 2 ... the Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic on Golden Money for Tim Fitzsimmons ... and then, to top it off, I won the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth on Prosperous Return for Michael Clements whose been in the training ranks in Singapore for over twenty years.”

“But, Singapore, at the moment is finished for me,” confirmed Bayliss. “It has been a great experience generally and a great learning experience in particular. I achieved everything I wanted to do.

“To ride there had always been on my bucket list and now that box is ticked.”

That first Group 1 win in Singapore for Bayliss came just over two months ago, in mid-October, but now Bayliss is moving on from Singapore with New Zealand, Bayliss’s old stopping ground is next stop on his agenda.

“I’ve always wanted to go back to New Zealand while I’m still young and, luckily enough, I got the opportunity to go over there.

“I’m leaving on Tuesday. I’m going over for the Carnival, so I’ll be disappearing again for three months, and I should be back in Queensland for the Winter Carnival.

“I’ll miss Christmas ... unfortunately. It’s been fantastic to see that the family, who are my biggest supporters, and it will be sad not to have Christmas and New Year with them, but they understand that part of my job is to bounce around and hopefully the sacrifices will be worth it.

“I know trainers that I used to ride for when I was in New Zealand on previous visits. I know Mark Walker has been keen to get me over there as well. He is an ex-Singapore trainer, so he has obvious kept an eye on my riding in Singapore and hopefully he likes what he has seen.

“I’ll be based at Matatmata, but I’ll be spreading myself around looking to make the most of any opportunity that comes my way.”

It is hard to believe that nearly five years has passed since Bayliss claimed his first ever Group 1 win aboard Volpe Veloce in the Railway Stakes at Ellerslie in January 2018.

A year later Bayliss won a second New Zealand Group 1 when taking out the Herbie Dyke Stakes aboard On the Rocks. He rode through a pain barrier that day as he was nursing broken ribs ... but the reward was enormous.

Two months after On The Rocks’ win, Bayliss added a third Group 1 win in New Zealand to his list of credits when Nicolette took out the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes at Te Aroa in April 2019.

While his goal in his first season as a ‘freshman’ in Singapore was “to ride some sort of Group winner. It didn’t matter what it was ... whether it was a Group 3 or whatever,” you can rest assured, particularly with that positive Singapore experience behind him, that Bayliss will be reaching for far higher in New Zealand with another Group 1 win in the land of the long white cloud being very much the target.

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