By Jordan Gerrans
The major players in the incredible Incentivise tale are household names around Australia.
His current trainer Peter Moody is widely known following the sparkling unbeaten run of Black Caviar, jockey Brett Prebble is a Melbourne Cup winner already while part-owner, breeder and former trainer Steve Tregea has won plenty of big races across his career.
What about the kid who learnt his trade in Goondiwindi, Hughenden and Charleville – Josh King?
Not many have heard of King down at Flemington.
But on the Darling Downs and for those that have been there alongside Incentivise the entire way, they know exactly how vital the former jockey has been for the 2021 Melbourne Cup favourite.
King is Tregea’s main track work rider, as well as being the Toowoomba stable’s foreman, and helped guide Incentivise from a timid and sooky juvenile to the elite stayer he is today.
“Josh has been riding him almost all the time,” Tregea recalled in the lead-up to the race that stops the nation.
“That is the way we want it, because Josh is so cool on them and it teaches the horse to relax, which is something we are all about here.”
The experienced trainer Tregea trusts the former country jockey in Queensland with almost every aspect of his racing stable.
Tregea splits his time between his breeding operation and his race horse stable these days – a lot of time leaving King in charge of the barn’s operation of a morning when track work is in full swing.
The pair have spoken about becoming co-trainers in the past and the prospect may develop in the future.
That is where King and Incentivise developed their close bond, the stable foreman helping educate the boom stayer into the mature galloper he is today.
“Josh does a great job with them, he rides most of them work, he is very calm on them and does not upset any of the young horses,” Tregea said.
“We really value Josh as part of our operation.
“I do not have to be here at the stable all of them time because I do have someone like Josh, it does make it a lot easier.
“You have to have trust in someone that is working for you, Josh has been a great asset to me.”
While King has taken to being a stable foreman like a duck to water, he was not keen to give up on race riding when Tregea first approached him about working in his yard on a full-time basis.
The 25-year-old was no slouch in the saddle – riding just over 100 winners, including a career best haul of 30 in the 2018-19 season.
Born into a racing family with his mum Norma a bush trainer, who travelled around the state campaigning their horses, King had his first race ride as a 15 year old.
He won the Longreach premiership in 2019 for leading regional trainer Mark Oates and not long after – he called time on his days as a race jockey, after several offers from Tregea.
King was already riding work for Tregea at the time, focussing on educating the juveniles, but the cool, calm and collected trainer saw that he had more to offer.
“I knocked him back at first and then he asked me again and again – and eventually I said 'righto, we will give it a go',” King recalled.
“I wanted to see if we would get along and how everything would work between me and Steve, and it has gone great, it has been unreal, we get along really well.
“He thinks the same thing, we have not had an argument, which is the main thing.
“Sometimes I miss race riding, I got a bit heavy near the end of my career,”
Tregea knew King’s attitude and temperament would lead towards him being a successful stable foreman and eventually likely to become a trainer, as well.
“It is a leap because riding is one thing but working in a stable and having that responsibility is another thing all together, as many trainers would know,” Tregea said.