Declan McDonagh© Photo Healy Racing
With winter having firmly set in, some of Ireland’s most talented and up-and-coming jockeys are making hay while the sun shines Down Under and enjoying a successful time of things in Australia.
While Mick Kinane was a trailblazer as the first — and only — Irish jockey to win the Melbourne Cup, some of his contemporaries are setting up careers in Australian Horse Racing. We take a look at five Irish hoops starring Down Under.
Declan McDonogh
McDonogh is a familiar name with Irish race fans, and punters who love to back him in big races don’t need to worry. The former Irish champion jockey hasn’t made a permanent switch to the other side of the world, he is just spending our winter — and the Australian summer — riding for trainers Peter and Paul Snowden in Sydney. He will be there until February when he returns to Ireland for the start of the new season, in which he will be freelance after splitting with John Oxx. McDonogh is enjoying success in Australia too, riding at an 18% win strike rate and 44% place strike rate in New South Wales country meetings.
John Allen
Allen swapped Ireland for Australia in 2011, and, while things didn’t get off to the best start, he has well and truly made a name for himself Down Under. The County Cork native has struck up a successful partnership with champion trainer Darren Weir, who branded Allen as "the greatest horseman I've ever had anything to do with”. He was a jumps jockey when he headed to Australia, but now combines that with the flat in which he has two Group 1 wins in his locker after back-to-back wins in the South Australian Derby on board Howard Be Thy Name and Volatile Mix in 2016 and 2017.
Emily Finnegan
Apprentice jockey Finnegan’s decision to swap County Meath for Adelaide, South Australia, has well and truly paid dividends. Not only has she landed a plum job with Philip Stokes, but she has become a major hit with more than 200 winners to her name since making her debut in Australia in 2014. In November, Finnegan was crowned 2017 Dux of the South Australian Apprentice Academy. She’s from good stock too because her grandfather Cathal won the Irish Grand National in 1970.
Martin Kelly
Kelly headed to Australia for a short holiday in 2008 at the end of the point-to-point season, and the rest, as they say, is history. The County Wexford rider has made Australia’s jump racing scene his home ever since, working with trainer Eric Musgrove on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula. Kelly has a victory in the Von Doussa Steeplechase, one of Australia’s most iconic jump races, to his credit having partnered Thubiaan to victory in 2015.
Louise Day
Perhaps the most little-known of the shortlist, Day swapped Victoria and her job with leading trainer Ciaron Maher for a new link-up with Kris Lees in Newcastle, New South Wales, earlier this year. And she hasn’t looked back since, catching the eye with a host of winners at country meetings. The 23-year-old has an impressive strike rate with 22 winners from 130 rides and is well and truly on an upward career path.
