Chasing Glory: The Road to Stradbroke Season | Cejay Graham

By Dylan Mutu

A brief stint at a local fish and chip shop on New South Wales’ Mid North Coast in her younger years was all it took for Cejay Graham to realise the 9-5 grind wasn’t for her.

Raised in a racing family and no stranger to afternoons spent in the stables, she soon discovered she could make a living doing what she loved – and from that moment on, there was no looking back.

Now a prominent jockey in the Sunshine State and poised to make an impact this winter in the Queensland Racing Carnival, it’s unlikely she imagined that lightbulb moment would lead her to where she is today.

"You know, I just never thought it was something I’d be able to do," Graham said.

"Then I started working in a fish and chip shop, and I just thought, ‘I hate this so much.’ I think I was maybe 15 or 16 at the time, so I asked to work afternoons in the stable instead.

“As soon as I started working with the horses, I thought, ‘How do you get paid for this?’”

“That then progressed into riding trackwork, and it wasn't until I jumped my first horse out of the gates that I had that real lightbulb moment and knew this was what I was going to do with my life."

With her father Peter riding over 2200 winners and brother Jesse spending some time in the saddle, Graham was well-placed to learn the craft.

Although, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows when she approached her father, with Graham admitting that he was initially hesitant about her following him into the same line of work.

“I remember being really frightened to tell him that I wanted to ride trackwork,” Graham said.

“I knew it was something that he didn't really want his little girl to do, but I remember him saying to me, ‘if you're going to do it, you're going to do it my way’. So, I was very lucky that I had his guidance.

“He taught me everything from the basics, to what I know now, and probably the most valuable thing he taught me is that you never stop learning in this industry.”

And that song couldn’t sing any truer, with Graham having her fair share of learning curves, most of which involving a few bumps and bruises in the saddle.

It wasn’t the start she envisioned for her riding career, breaking her wrist twice and sustaining a back injury which left her in limbo on the sidelines for a large chunk of time.

Admitting it was a frustrating beginning, the 26-year-old believes it has served as some crucial building blocks to how she is riding today.

“It was really hard, feeling like I was getting somewhere and then it having it taken off me,” Graham said.

“It was a stop-start career – things would go well, then I’d break my wrist, then I moved to Sydney and things started to peak, and then I hurt my back.

“But I think it's probably only made me stronger as a person and I feel like maybe all that had to happen to lead me here to Queensland.”

It’s fair to say Cejay has certainly made her mark as a jockey since arriving in the Sunshine State, but it didn’t come without putting in the hard yards.

With her string of bad luck, Graham had her sights set on getting healthy and a fresh start, trying to get a taste of what it was like to ride in Queensland.

With numerous rehab and Pilates sessions to get her body right alongside hundreds of hours spent driving from Port Macquarie, Graham was finally able to become an apprentice to Kelly Schweida.

“Sometimes I’d drive more than six hours a day to get a go, going around all the stables just to get a trackwork ride,” Graham said.

“It wasn’t until one day I was fortunate enough to be taken into Kelly Schweida’s stable and he gave me an opportunity on a horse called Sailor’s Secret and I won on it, and it all stemmed from that.

“I remember he called and asked me to come and be an apprentice to him, and I wasn't sure whether he was serious or not at the time – I think I asked him like, ‘are you serious?’”

That phone call proved to be the opportunity Graham had been chasing, with the rising talent going on to claim the Ken Russell Queensland Apprentice of the Year award last season.

She also ticked off a major career milestone during the 2024 Queensland Racing Carnival, scoring her first Group-level win in the Group 2 Queensland Guineas aboard Kintyre for Gary Portelli — a success that gave her maiden Group 1 ride in the Epsom Handicap later that year.

“Yeah, it was fantastic,” Graham said.

“I think it’s those moments and big wins that have helped me get to where I am today, it was a career highlight.

“I was very lucky to get that opportunity to ride him in my first Group 1-he probably overdid things a fraction in Sydney that day, but hopefully we can see him up here again over the winter.”

Riding the wave of her breakout 2023/24 season, the Port Macquarie product has continued to shine in the saddle.

She’s also equalled her career-best tally of four metropolitan winners on a single day — not once, but twice — in the space of two months.

Currently with 33 city winners to her name, Graham looks on track to go close to her season-best haul of 59 — with hopes her form can help land her a shot in a Group 1 this Stradbroke Season.

“I think winning a Group 1 race at any point in your career would just be absolutely out of this world,” Graham said.

“It’s every jockey’s dream. I can only imagine what that feeling would be like.

“Hopefully, if I just keep working hard, the opportunity to ride in one might be on the cards — I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”

With her family making the trip up for Stradbroke Season, Graham admits she’d be happy with any opportunity in a black-type race and believes she has a good chance to ride.

One of her most recent feature winners, Grafterburners, is a colt she identifies as one of the smartest two-year-olds she’s ridden, along with three-year-old filly Sunrays who she sees as a progressive type.

“Grafterburners is going to be a very, very exciting colt,” Graham said.

“I think he's a very smart horse, and he’s going to go on to do some very good things, along with Sunrays, another horse of Kelly’s. She’s also very exciting.”

“I’m not sure whether I’ll get to stick with them going forward, but I can only keep my fingers crossed, keep working hard, and hope that opportunity will arise.”

The 2025 Queensland Racing Carnival kicks off this Saturday with Guineas Day at Eagle Farm, setting the scene for an epic 10 weeks of racing that includes eight Group 1 features. 

Cejay hopes to start the winter off with a bang eyeing Group 2 success aboard King Kapa in the Victory Stakes.

For more information on the Queensland Racing Carnival click here