Alisha Taylor commences training tenure with a bang

By Jordan Gerrans

As far as dream debuts go, it couldn’t have been much sweeter for Rockhampton’s Alisha Taylor at Mackay on Saturday afternoon.

The passionate horsewoman took three gallopers to the races on her maiden afternoon as a trainer and walked away with a first-up winning double.

The one horse that didn’t get the chocolates finished third and was not beaten by far either.

Alisha has been around the industry since she was a young girl and is the daughter of Caloundra mentor Garnett Taylor as well as being the brother of leading Rockhampton trainer Clinton Taylor.

She rode for her father and had a successful career as a hoop before stepping away once she gave birth to her daughter Chloe just under a decade ago.

After a period of time riding trackwork and being employed as a foreman for her husband Jared Wehlow, Alisha has gone out on her own with a small team of horses.

Alisha’s debut winners were Rideau and Pepperdine at Mackay on Saturday with Cryptology also finished in the money on the program.

“It was very surreal,” the 33-year-old said.

“They are three horses that I have had a lot to do with over the time.

“Pepperdine – Jared trained him – and I used to do all his trackwork on him and Rideau was one of my favourite horses when Jared had him. And, Cryptology, I educated him as a young horse.

“It was really good to take those three horses that I had a lot to do with to the races on my first day.

“They all rewarded me and it felt very good. I did go to the races thinking each horse had found their right race and thought they were good chances.

“I was quite nervous going there for the first time, hoping I had it all right and it all worked out pretty good.”

All three of Alisha’s runners on Saturday were previously trained by her brother and her husband is in the ownership of all of them.

After riding in races for almost a decade and working as a trackwork rider and foreman up until late 2024, Alisha thought her time in the racing caper was coming to end late last year when her husband Wehlow opted to give up training.

Wehlow had enough of travelling far and wide across the Sunshine State in search of winners, so he handed in his training ticket and went to work in the mines. 

Alisha also thought she would be looking for another professional vocation with her husband giving up his stable.

The former jockey admits she was shocked at first when Wehlow officially stepped away from training.

“I thought I would leave the industry with Jared but my brother snagged me pretty quickly to come across and ride a bit of work,” Alisha recalls.

“That led to a full-time job with him and Jared bought back Pepperdine with Clinton training the horse.

“I was riding Pepperdine in work and my brother eventually suggested that I have a crack at training him myself.

“It all came about from there so I could muck around with a couple myself.”

According to Racing And Sports’ statistics, Wehlow prepared 367 winners across his time in racing, which included multiple victories around South East Queensland when he travelled horses south.

In the 2022-23 campaign, he prepared 49 winners, which was a season high across the last decade, at a tick over 20 per cent winning strike-rate. 

Before going into training, Alisha enjoyed a strong career in the saddle across Queensland.

According to Racing And Sports’ statistics, she piloted 167 winners, which led to her winning Rockhampton’s leading apprentice jockey title in the 2009-10 campaign.

The 2009-10 season was her most prolific by far – collecting 55 victories across the term.

The bulk of Alisha’s winners were for her father, who she says – alongside her brother and husband – have been key mentors in her path towards training her own team.

“I was apprenticed to my Dad, but it was more than just that, I was like a foreman role for him,” she said.

“That helped me set off my time in racing before I went to Jared.

“Jared and I worked really well together; we did everything together and that has been the same since I started working for my brother.

“I am not just a trackwork rider, we run ideas off each other. I have always tried to step above my mark to learn things because I genuinely love horses and I love working with them.

“Working with horses all the time over the years, it evolved into my training now. It has been a great grounding.”

Away from racing, Alisha is involved in showing horses and runs her own farm, which she believes is also instrumental in her ability to get the best out of her racehorses.

Clinton and Alisha ride the majority of their own runners in their trackwork which is also vital in preparing them for their upcoming assignments.

Alisha has five horses in work and she says she is comfortable with that handful and isn’t keen to expand her stable too much while also working full-time for her brother.

The rookie trainer is busy flicking through the racing calendar this week to find the next events for her small team after a dream debut on Saturday.