Violet Soulsby set to live out childhood dream

By Jordan Gerrans

From a young age living in regional New South Wales, Violet Soulsby always idolised jockeys and fantasised about making her own way into the riding ranks when she was old enough.

Growing up in Warren, there was not an abundance of race meetings that the 20-year-old could attend but when she was able to, she rarely missed them.

“I have somehow always wanted to be a jockey since I was very, very little,” Soulsby said.

“I have never really been able to pinpoint why I wanted to be a jockey so much as my family were not involved really, but I have always loved horses.

“I had not ridden much when I started loving it, but I just loved the sport in its entirety – I was so fascinated by it.

“I used to pester all the jockeys to talk to them and I just idolised them.

"It was just a bug and I caught it.”

Now based on the Gold Coast, Soulsby will live out her dream on Saturday when she makes her maiden race day appearance as an apprentice hoop at Goondiwindi Race Club.

She has been booked to partner Heart of Kings for Hendon trainer Gino Barbierato in the Benchmark 45 Handicap over 1000 metres, which is the opening event on the program.

She will also pilot He's Viral for Greg Wright later in the day.

She is hopeful of snapping up a couple of other rides before Saturday morning comes around.

Soulsby will ride at 54 kg on Saturday and is keen to get her riding weight a little lower in the coming weeks.

After riding at the Deagon trials on Tuesday, Soulsby described her emotions as ‘surreal’ to finally be at her first day of riding professionally.

She grew up at Warren before relocating to Albury at around 11 years of age.

The rookie rider looked up to jockeys such as Tiffany Jeffries, Catherine Newcombe, Danielle Scott and Blaike McDougall, among others.

“They did not have many race meetings at Warren in a year but every time they did, I was there and fell in love with it,” she said.

“Once I was old enough to start work in a stable I did with Donna Scott at Albury and she taught me all the ropes and showed me everything.

“I never looked back once I got going.”

After working at the Scott barn in Albury through her teenage years, Soulsby relocated to Sydney after high school to pursue her riding ambitions at the Peter Robl stable and gain more experience.

When the Group 1-winning jockey turned trainer Robl relocated to the Sunshine State in early 2023, Soulsby followed.

The Robl stable have gone through a purple patch in recent weeks following their Darwin Cup triumph with Hadouken as well as a city winner with Bella Khadijah.

The apprentice rider says learning from a multiple elite-level winning jockey such as Robl on a daily basis has been significant for her development.

“He has been really good – he is a hard taskmaster, but it is rewarding,” Soulsby said.

“He has made sure I am ready to go out there and conduct myself in the right way. He has been a very good boss.”

It is a big weekend for Robl’s apprentice jockeys as fellow youngster from the team, Jasper Franklin, makes a return to the saddle.

Franklin has not ridden in a race since late July and heads up to Toowoomba for one engagement at Clifford Park on Saturday evening.

After regularly riding against city-level hoops in South East Queensland trials, Soulsby says she is feeling confident ahead of her maiden race day appearance on the non-TAB circuit.

“I am feeling quite good at the moment, I have ridden in nearly 60 trials and lots of jump-outs,” she said.

“I feel quite confident as you get to ride with all the Brisbane jockeys as well as that helps with your nerves when you have ridden with them before.

“It is a lot easier now and that helps my confidence a lot.”