By Jordan Gerrans
In a career littered with stunning achievements, Caboolture product Glen Boss believes bringing up a ton of Group 1 winners on Queensland soil would be a “magic moment”.
The champion jockey is back where it all began for the next 10 weeks, basing himself on the God Coast, and is sure to be one of the main attractions of the 2021 TAB Queensland Winter Racing Carnival.
The 51-year-old was on hand to help launch the carnival on Thursday morning at Eagle Farm and instead of looking from just week to week across the prized segment of the Queensland racing season, the legend is thinking big.
Staged over 10 action-packed Saturdays, the Winter Carnival has received a prize money increase to $20.5 million – a $2 million uplift from its 2019 counterpart – and will feature 53 black-type races including eight Group 1s.
With eight Group 1s on offer in the near future, Queenslander Boss needs just four more to bring up triple figures.
“It would be a tall order to win half of them to chalk up my 100 but if I could get 100, there would be no place I would rather do it than Queensland,” the multiple Melbourne Cup winner said.
“It would be one of those magic moments that would be up there with all the things I have done, winning my 100th Group 1 on Queensland soil.
“It would be something I would cherish forever.”
The Sydney-based Boss was overjoyed to be back in Queensland, describing it as his natural habitat while also noting he could not wipe the smile off his own face since the moment he arrived.
He plans to relocate back to the Sunshine State once he is finally done with riding as a career.
But do not count on that being any time soon for one of the great showmen of the racing industry.
Reflecting on the 96 Group 1 winners in his career already, Boss says the kid that grew up not far away from where the 2021 TAB Queensland Winter Racing Carnival will be run, always wanted to be the best he could at his craft.
“Even when I started, that is what you wanted to do, ride 100 Group 1 winners or ride the Melbourne Cup, that is what you want to do,” Boss said.
“That is what you get into the game to do and I still have a few more good years in me, hopefully I can show Queenslanders what I can still do over the next few months.”