3 minute read

Top NSW trainer Gerald Ryan needed just one look at apprentice jockey Hannah Martin two years ago to decide she had a future as a race rider in Sydney.

At the time Martin's embryonic career as a jockey involved riding trackwork for ex-Ryan assistant Matt Dunn at Murwillumbah, and almost immediately she was whisked away to Rosehill.

“He [Dunn] recommended she come to Sydney,” Ryan said.

“I liked the way she sat on the horse, and how she had horses going underneath her.

“She's a very good judge of pace, she works well and she's settling in quite good.”

Were it not for Ryan's keen eye, Martin may never have made the trip to Sydney.

“Gerald came down to mind the horses at one stage and saw me ride, and he offered me a job in Sydney which was good,” Martin said.

“I moved down there a couple of days later because I had nothing else going on. I always wanted to be a jockey but I thought it might not work out and it kind of just started falling into place.

“I tried a bit harder for it when I was down here and eventually Gerald offered me the apprenticeship which was a really good thing.

“Now I'm here.”

About two years after learning the ropes under Ryan, Martin graduated to race riding on Saturday at Goulburn - something she'd dreamt of doing since childhood.

She grabbed a third placing in her second start, piloting Ryan's French Rose. But more importantly she finally had something to show for years of hard work.

“It was good, it was really exciting and I'd been looking forward to it for quite a long time,” Martin said.

“Don't get me wrong it was hard, but I just can't wait to improve and get better and ride more races, it's going to be so fun.

“I still love getting up every morning and going in and riding horses at trackwork and everything that I seem to do, it gets more and more exciting all the time. It's so nice to come to work every day and just ride good nice horses.”

Martin represents the ever-growing breed of female jockey, which many in the industry have earmarked as the future of racing.

Their stocks received a massive boost in Saturday's Coolmore Classic when Kathy O'Hara saluted about Ofcourseican, claiming her first Group 1.

She became just the fourth female to win a Group 1 race in Australia, and several trainers are now warming to the fairer sex.

“A lot of the trainers too around Rosehill have obviously seen me ride and stuff and they've been giving me rides, and wanting to put me on their horses for race day,” Martin said.

“I've been getting lots of trials off David Payne and Tim Martin and a few other trainers which has been really good.

“They said they're going to put me on race day pretty soon.”

She's already ridden stakes winner Winter King for Payne in trackwork, along with Ryan trio Au Contraire, Tamanu Park and Van Rossum.

Martin was hopeful her book of rides would start expanding from next week.