Jace McMurray gave everybody … but particularly his fellow apprentices … notice that he was back in South-East Queensland in the strongest possible terms by riding a double at Eagle Farm on Wednesday in his first meeting back in the Sunshine State since December 27 … the same way he had left off when riding a double on that December date.
McMurray relocated to Sydney for his time away, joining the Michael Freedman stable for a second stint in Sydney (he previously spent three months with the stable in mid-2025). It’s a tough jockey room down there, but it is also a great place for a young jockey, who is willing to pay attention, to learn as he tries to move forward in his profession.
Back in Brisbane, still attached to the Michael Freedman yard, McMurray’s two winners at Eagle Farm were notable for the stables for which he won … his boss Michael Freedman, whose stable runners carry plenty of clout, and for multiple Trainers’ Premiership winner Tony Gollan, whose stable remains in a class of its own, strength-wise, in South-East Queensland.
Gollan is also something of a king and queen maker in terms of the weight on influence his runners carry with regard to the upper reaches of the Apprentice Premiership ladder, and how McMurray fits into that riding pecking order will play an important part in how that currently tightly packed Apprentice Joceys’ Premiership unfolds over the next five months for the returning rider.
Going into Saturday’s meeting, as per Racing Queensland’s records, only six winners separate the top four jockeys in the Brisbane Apprentice Premiership. Reigning Champion Emily Lang leads with 21 winners, McMurray has 20, Jai Williams sits on 18 and Jasper Franklin has 15.
Of these jockeys only the runaway winner Lang and Franklin (in seventh place) featured in the top ten on last season’s Apprentice Premiership ladder, so there has been quite a lot of movement there.
Not least in the gap at the top. This one is going to be a lot closer than the cakewalk that Lang enjoyed last season when she triumphed by a whopping seventeen-and-a-half winners.
“It (the Premiership) is in the back of my mind,” acknowledged McMurray. “It’s something I’ve got as a small goal to try and win.
“There’s a bit of competition around.
“it will be good.”
Game on!
