BAILEY WHEELER BACK ON MONDAY

By Graham Potter | Saturday, November 4, 2023

A contrite Bailey Wheeler believes he has learnt the lesson that his boss, trainer Annabel Neasham, intended to drive home when she stood the young apprentice jockey down from all rides for a period of a month.

Wheeler, whose career was on a sharp upward trajectory at the time of his fall from grace, will be free of his ‘suspension’ on Monday.

“It’s been a long month,” said Wheeler.

"I was going very well. In fact, in the last meeting I rode at before I was stood down, I won the Queensland Cup on Fancy Man for my stable … it was the biggest win of my career.

“I went to the Awards evening on the Sunday and I didn’t turn up for work the next day, so, fair to say, you’ve got to cop the consequences when you do wrong. I’d missed the first race on the card before as well when I rode on the Friday night, did trackwork on Saturday morning and then went for a little nap which lasted too long.

“There was nothing sinister in anything I was doing.

There were just times when I just wasn’t doing the right thing for myself and others. You can’t really expect to get away with that. I've made mistakes and I've learnt from that.

“I was devastated when I was told I was being stood down, but I think it is the best thing that could have happened because it sort of knocked me into line. It quickly made me realise what I had lost … how much I had lost … and, at the same time, made me think of what I can achieve and what I’ve got to gain if I go about things the right way.

“I’ve worked every morning in the stable since I was stood down from riding … some afternoons as well … and I have been strapping at the races, so I’ve worked hard for it, but now, coming back on Monday, I think it is going to be fairly rewarding for me.

“I’ve just got to keep working hard and the results will follow.”

Wheeler, who won both the Gold Coast Jockey Premiership and the Gold Coast Apprentice Jockey Premiership last season will be looking to add to his honour roll come the end of the 2023/24 season.

While we are only a third of the way through the season, the Brisbane Metropolitan Apprentice Jockey’s Premiership already looks very much a two-horse race between Wheeler and Cejay Graham.

Wheeler was leading the race when he stood down from riding, but Graham’s consistency in terms of riding winners has seen her overtake Wheeler and surge into a five-and-a-half win lead on the Brisbane ladder, with Saturday’s racing still to come before Wheeler returns.

“She’ll keep me on my toes,” was Wheeler’s response when asked about that upcoming and likely to be on-going battle.

Graham and Wheeler … two very talented, well matched riders with a current winning Metropolitan strike-rates of 13.7 percent and 13.5 percent respectively.

It could be quite a contest!

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