Apprentice Angela Jones ready for provincial challenge

By Jordan Gerrans

After paying her dues in the country, up-and-coming apprentice Angela Jones is ready to be let loose on the provincial scene in Queensland.

Indentured to renowned mentor Lindsay Hatch on the Darling Downs, the 20-year-old Jones has been forced to bide her time in the bush but has recently been given the tick of approval to make the step up.

The Charters Towers product will ride in the biggest race of her career so far this Friday, booked for the Ben Williams-trained Our Alicia’s Lane in the Mackay Newmarket.

Jones is building into her time at the provincial level, riding at the Sunshine Coast on Tuesday, Ipswich on Thursday before making the trip to the sugar city on Friday.

Her country claim will be down to just 1.5 kilograms after her next three winners at that level and Jones says through extensive conversations with Hatch, the pair have decided the time is right for the step up in grade.

“He keeps you out in the bush until he feels you are confident and you are confident in yourself,” Jones said of Hatch.

“When you have the ball rolling out in the bush and you are going well, then we can ease in the provincials because you have the confidence and the country racing gives you a good start.

“I do feel confident now, I know I can go out to the meetings in the bush and get a full book of rides, I am confident to go to those meetings and while it is a whole new ball game to go to the provincials, at least I have a heap of confidence going into it.

“It makes it a lot easier.”

Hatch had a similar method with boom youngster Kyle Wilson-Taylor over the last year, holding the promising youngster back before he felt his apprentice was completely ready for the next step in his career.

Ironically, Wilson-Taylor is the boyfriend of Jones.

Jones has been in stunning form of late, riding at a 28% win rate in her last 50 rides.

The apprentice hoop was arguably the top rider of the TAB Battle of the Bush series this year, claiming two heats, including booking the series winner, Rather Salubrious’, spot in the Final for Dalby trainer David Reynolds.

Reynolds was keen to put Jones on for BOTB Final recently before Hatch put the slows on those plans.

“Angela is riding outstanding at the moment, riding like a superstar getting two horses in the Battle of the Bush Final,” Reynolds said of the 20-year-old rider. 

“She has been riding a fair bit for me lately.”

Growing up on a station, Jones was always around cattle and stock horses but had little involvement in the racing industry for much of her life before the final couple of years of high school.

Attending boarding school in Charters Towers, Jones became involved in a local horse club through Sally Kirkwood, who is heavily involved with the Towers Jockey Club.

In her last couple of years of high school, Jones make the call to pursue the racing industry as a career, spending time with the Kirkwood stable at Towers, led by trainer Robert and Sally, as a stable hand.

She had not ridden track work before moving to the Hatch barn at Toowoomba in the middle of 2019.

Jones has a deep appreciation of what bush clubs go through to hold their race days from her experience with the Kirkwoods at Towers.

“I was with them about six months after I finished school and it was good to see the behind the scenes of a country race club,” Jones said.

“I was able to see everything that went into it from their perspective and I was able to get an appreciation of what they do to make the country meetings happen.

“Recently I have been going to these country meetings down here and I would always remember how busy they were back in Towers to get their race day ready, the whole week leading up to their meetings, all the people in the local community get involved to make sure it happens.”

With the $75,000 on offer for the winner of Friday’s Mackay Newmarket, it is the biggest purse Jones has ridden for in her career and while it has been a big week riding at several provincial tracks, she is looking forward to making her mark on the northern carnival.