Apprentice Emily Lang’s treble at Eagle Farm on Wednesday has propelled her into the lead in the Brisbane Jockeys’ Premiership. Even with the advantage of being apprenticed to the all-powerful Tony Gollan stable, that is no mean feat, given that this is the first full metropolitan season for the young rider.
The 2023/24 Provincial Apprentice Jockey Premiership winner started off the 2024/25 metropolitan season with a win on Vodka Martini at Doomben at the season’s first metropolitan meeting and, while that was only her fourth metropolitan win overall, Lang was already making influential career decisions and setting lofty goals.
“Tony asked me if I wanted to come across there and do my metro time there,” explained Lang, speaking at the time. “It obviously was a hard thing to do because I’ve got such a good relationship with Steven (O’Dea) and Matt (Hoysted). They have done so much for me, but if I want to be on the same sort of trajectory that Angela Jones has gone on, I don’t think that is something to turn down.”
Jones was always going to be a tough act to follow. The trajectory she had set was a formidable one. Jones, who grew and grew in stature when aligned with the Gollan stable, rode 79 winners during the 2022/23 season, a total which would have given her the Brisbane Jockeys’ Premiership in every one of the four seasons immediately prior to that.
She ultimately finished third behind Jimmy Orman and Ben Thompson, but was a clearcut winner of the Brisbane Apprentice Jockey’s Premiership that season.
Jones has continued to flourish, again with solid support from the Gollan stable, again topping fifty winners in the 2023/24 season when finishing fourth in the Jockeys’ Premiership, a race in which she, significantly, currently lies in third place, providing a model of consistency.
But if you don’t set a target and take aim, chances are you aren’t going to hit it, so it was all systems go for Lang as she set her tracker on the Jones path … and, boy, how she has powered her way forward from there could not be more impressive.
Lang’s forty-six metropolitan winners to date this season … which, incidentally, has her four winners clear of Jones, her most likely premiership rival … have been achieved at a winning strike-rate of 14.4%, the same percentage registered by Ryan Maloney and only second to Jimmy Orman in top eight riders on the premiership ladder. This from a current total of 319 rides, the most by any rider in Brisbane … so hard work is also helping push the success envelope.
Lang obviously is still learning and arguably in the best place to learn, not least because riding a lot of well-bred, well performed horses for a big stable brings another level of pressure which, if it all works out, toughens a rider psychologically and which, in turn, then brings an extra edge to their game which allows their talent to flourish.
Currently Lang is flourishing.
She will well know, as we all do, that it is one thing to get to the top. It is another matter all-together to stay there.
Given the evidence already on the table, Lang will be up for the challenge.
