New Zealand is renowned as one of the world’s happiest hunting grounds for female jockeys - and that’s never been more the case than it is now. Of course, when you consider the quality of riders like Danielle Johnson, Lisa Allpress and Samantha Collett, it’s hardly surprising.
The three have had the NZ Premiership between them for the past four seasons, and their domination is even more pronounced for 20/21. Indeed, 29-year-old Johnson has all but won the title already - and we’re still not quite halfway through the season. She passed the hundred mark with a four-timer at Trentham on Saturday, and is now on 105, a lead of 59 over Craig Grylis on 46 (just three ahead of Allpress and Collett, who are tied for third).
New Zealand Premiership standings
Saturday’s Trentham card was a case in point. There were two G1s, and Allpress won the first, the Levin Classic, on Bonham (by a neck from Johnson on Brando) with Collett fifth. Johnson took the second, the Telegraph Stakes, comfortably aboard Kiwi star Avantage (see video below) with Collett third on Burgundy Belle. Poor Grylis was sandwiched between the females again, finishing second on Spring Heat.
“It was such a cool day and so good to get to the 100-win mark,” Johnson said afterwards. “It was also my first Group 1 of the season, which was also good as I was getting quite frustrated about that as I’d only managed to rack up some placings so far this year.
“I’ve always said I would love to win a jockeys’ premiership, but I don’t want to do that without winning Group 1s along the way. If you want to be one of the best, you can’t do that without winning the elite races.”
She did admit, though, that her effort on the Jamie Richards-trained Brando, who just failed to catch Bonham, wasn’t one of her best efforts. “I just got a little too far back on him [Brando] and Bonham got the break on us,” she said.
“He just needed a little more ground to get past her, but I had my tail between my legs after that one. He is a super horse, the total package and deserves a Group 1.”
When the dust had settled after the weekend, Johnson (+8pts on the week) had climbed 64 places in the TRC Global Rankings to #151, making her the fourth-highest-ranked woman jockey in the world.
Johnson’s riding has been a talking point all season down under, even rivalling the attention Jamie Kah has been receiving in Australia. Kah, by some way the world’s highest-ranked female, currently leads the ultra-competitive Victoria Metro Premiership by 11.
Victoria Premiership
Yet both of them still have some ground to make up on Allpress on the global recognition front. The four-time NZ champion, who has been racking up the winners thick and fast after missing the first two months of the season for hip replacement surgery, became the first woman to win a race in Saudi Arabia in February and was recently honoured with one of her country’s most prestigious awards.
Saturday’s G1 score makes the 45-year-old the biggest mover in the TRC standings worldwide among humans this week. Her 12pt gain lifts her 168 places to #222, putting her sixth in the table of leading female jockeys.
