Star hoop Willie Pike will kick off the latest phase of his illustrious career at Wyong on Tuesday where he has been booked to ride Mumbai Jewel (for Annabel Neasham in race 1), Choix De La Mer (for Peter and Paul Snowden in race 3) and Heavenly Prophet (for Team Hawkes in race 4).
Getting an early leg up from three big stables will be a confidence booster of sorts for Pike … not that he will be short of any self-belief, but starting out full time in New South Wales is a far cry from his previous smash and grab visits at which he was so accomplished.
It is also a long way removed from his old Western Australian battleground where he ruled, basically unchallenged, at the top of the riding tree maintaining an astonishing winning spree over the years which seemed to have no end.
An absolutely accomplished rider, Pike’s riding skills are complemented by a battle-hardened mental toughness. There is no doubt that both of these attributes will continue to serve him well and the chances are that the challenges he will face before he settles fully into his new environment will actually fuel his competitive instinct and, dare we say it, make him an even better rider.
But, make no mistake, those challenges are very real.
Trainers will be keen to utilise Pike’s expertise where they can, but many stables already have their number one riders (and even their number two riders) firmly entrenched in their positions.
The jockeys themselves, as a group, will genuinely welcome Pike into the jockey’s room and into their social sphere … quite rightly as an esteemed colleague … but that is where the courtesy will end. It is hard to see any of them willing to easily give up their rides for Pike, just as they are unlikely to give him any leeway in the heat of battle out on the track itself.
Pike has simply never faced the likes of James McDonald, Tommy Berry, High Bowman, Kerrin McEvoy, Nash Rawiller, Tim Clark … to mention a few … as rivals on a regular basis. It is called one of the toughest jockey rooms in the world for good reason.
Opinion is arguably fairly evenly split at this stage. Many believe that Pike is too good a rider not to succeed. Others want to see it to believe it.
Pike has every chance of announcing his arrival in the best possible way as Mumbai Jewel, Annabel Neasham’s runner in the first race at Wyong on Tuesday, is currently the clear $2.40 favourite with only two other runners quoted at prices under $10.
The bottom line though is not how quickly it takes Pike to get on the scoreboard and, in truth, we’ll probably only know how high Pike has flown over the hurdle he has in front of him in several month’s time.
By then he will have found his natural place in the New South Wales riding ranks.
Until then, it will be fascinating to see how Pike adapts to his new situation and what he can pull out of the hat over the next year or two to cement his legacy in Australian racing history.
