Wilson-Taylor to strike in metropolitan debut

By Glenn Davis

Promising apprentice Kyle Wilson-Taylor will get a second bite of the cherry to make his metropolitan debut with a swag of seven rides at the Gold Coast on Wednesday.

Wilson-Taylor was all set to ride for the first time in the city at Eagle Farm last Wednesday before his master Lindsay Hatch intervened.

“He was going to ride two for Tony Gollan last week and one turned out to be a winner but I had to pull him into line,” Hatch said.

“I had to check his attitude a bit and took him off Tony’s two.

“He’s a good kid but he just wanders a bit but he’s learning from his mistakes.”

Wilson-Taylor has ridden 76.5 winners this season to be second in the Provincial Jockeys’ Premiership behind Justin Stanley on 89 wins.

Hatch would love nothing better than to give Wilson-Taylor his first city winner with Better Ethics in the Class 5 Handicap over 1800 metres.

“I think Better Ethics is a great chance of winning again and if he does, he might head north for a race like the Townsville and Mackay Cup,” Hatch said.

“He’d get into those sorts of races with a lightweight and would be a real chance.”

Better Ethics is shooting for a hat-trick of wins after only four starts for Hatch since transferring from Caloundra trainer Natalie McCall.

“He sulked after he failed in his first run for me at Ipswich then he ran third at Gatton before winning his last two here at Toowoomba," Hatch said.

“His last win was fantastic after he ran wide on the first corner and then pulled hard.

“It was a first-class effort and he drops four kilograms tomorrow.”

While Hatch is hopeful of giving Wilson-Taylor his first win in town, the apprentice jockey is confident of winning the opening race on the Stu Kendrick-trained Fierce Warrior in the QTIS Two-Year-Old Handicap over 900 metres.

“I spoke to Kyle about our chances and I’m confident Better Ethics will be hard to beat but he told me he was just as confident Stuey’s horse would go close to winning the first,” Hatch said.

Fierce Warrior won on debut over 800 metres for Wilson-Taylor at Ipswich in mid-April before finishing a close fifth to the Kelly Schweida-trained Miss Hipstar in the Listed Dalrello Stakes at Eagle Farm on May 1.

Wilson-Taylor’s remaining rides are Reality (Class 1 Handicap), Danish Fortune (QTIS 3YO Handicap), Howwonderfullifeis (Benchmark 72 Handicap), Rock Amore (Class 2 Handicap) and Bold Warrior in the Benchmark 72 Handicap.