When you win a Premiership by ‘daylight’ there has to be a lot of things you are doing right.
This season’s results record of Angela Jones can attest to that. With one Metropolitan meeting left until the curtain comes down on the 2022/23 racing season Jones has a lead in the Queensland Metropolitan Apprentice Jockeys’ Premiership of … wait for it … 47.5 winners!
That is not only an obvious outstanding result. It is extraordinary.
Jones’ current total of 77 metropolitan winners for the season also places her in a clear third place in the overall Queensland Metropolitan Jockeys’ Premiership behind Jimmy Orman and Ben Thompson … and, to put her results in further perspective, have a look at the list of title winners over the previous four seasons.
In the 2021/22 season Jimmy Orman rode 78.5 winners from 416 starts.
In the 2020/21 season Ryan Maloney ride 77 winners from 333 starts.
In the 2019/20 season Baylee Nothdurft rode 77.5 winners from 409 starts.
In the 2018/19 season Jeff Lloyd rode 78 winners in 433 starts.
While it is true that Jones has had more rides this season than any of the above (her current number of starters stands at 508), it is also true that IF Jones were to ride two winners on Saturday, which is a very real possibility, she would surpass all of those achievements in terms of number of winners ridden, meaning that her total for this season would have won the outright premiership for every one of the last four seasons.
That might be a big IF, but whether she reaches that mark or not, the company of those she is challenging is of the highest order. Get there and it will be an even more amazing achievement.
Just one more win though will give Jones bragging rights on top of the bragging rights she has already earned.
When Baylee Nothdurft won the 2019/20 title, he was still an apprentice. Nothdurft will always hold the distinction of being the first apprentice to win the Open Premiership since Michael Rodd and Zac Purton did so in the early 2000’s and, for now at least, Jones won’t join him as a winner of the main title, but what she can do is better Nothdurft’s total of metropolitan wins for that season.
One more win will do it …. and it could produce a nice moment between them as, if it is achieved on a Tony Gollan trained horse, Nothdurft, who gave away race riding after several battles with weight issues and is now employed by the Gollan stable, is likely to be one of those who will meet Jones, the stable’s apprentice, at the winners’ enclosure.
But, then again, what is half-a-win between friends.
That little interplay aside, while there might have been bigger stories … more high-profile stories … more headline stories … over the last twelve months, for a pure, uncomplicated narrative of achievement few will match the story of the rise and rise of Angela Jones and the professional, courteous and humble way in which she has conducted herself while rising to the challenge.
And if you agree that all that she has done this season translates into a really fantastic effort, there is another telling point, which we have saved until last, which makes all of this even more impressive.
Would you believe that, after having just three metropolitan rides in the previous season, this is Jones’ FIRST FULL SEASON on the Metropolitan scene!
Whichever way you look at it … anywhere in Australia … Jones is one of the finds of the season.
Lastly, it is also good to know that Jones is thriving on a personal level … with fellow jockey Kyle Wilson-Taylor and Jones recently announcing their engagement. So, in a manner of speaking, they are keeping the Queensland Metropolitan Apprentice Jockeys’ Premiership ‘in the family’ as Wilson-Taylor won that Premiership last season.
