Surprise winner may lead to race riding return for apprentice Kate Patch

By Jordan Gerrans

In the space of 48 hours, apprentice hoop Kate Patch went from not even considering a comeback to race riding to returning a winner first-up.

Standing at around 180cms tall, the 27-year-old has always battled with her weight being a taller rider – going over 12 months without a race ride until Saturday afternoon at Dalby.

With the Sears stable on the Darling Downs searching for a heavyweight hoop for their gelding Piracy, they contacted top heavy rider Paul Hamblin, who was already heading to Barcaldine that weekend, and pointed them in the direction of Patch.

On the Thursday night of last week, Patch was not thinking her next race ride would be any time soon and by Saturday afternoon – she was back in the winners stall.

The first-up triumph has the apprentice rider thinking a more permanent comeback to riding might become a reality over the summer months.

“It was an indescribable feeling really, because I did not plan on riding and I did not know that I even had the ride until Thursday night before Saturday,” Patch, who rides work at Clifford Park and the surrounding areas, said.

“I did not have time to think about it.

“It was one of my better rides in my eyes because I did not have to waste or sweat, I could still eat.

“I felt really good on it, I felt strong and that was the biggest thing I wanted to feel, to be able to eat properly and be strong – it was all a bonus.”

Patch has long battled with her weight, at one point she got as low as 54kgs, and was pleased to be able to ride at 60.5kgs at Dalby on Saturday, a figure she was pretty happy with considering the circumstances.

Looking ahead, she would be happy to get down to 56-57kgs and be strong, in her own words, not wanting to waste or sweat too much and just be comfortable in herself.  

Patch, who completes her apprenticeship with Darling Downs trainer Patrick Sexton, has flagged her intentions to increase her race riding around the Christmas period of this year.

Through the winter months of the year, Patch is an accomplished rodeo rider and competes in a series across Queensland and NSW, recently heading north to towns like Mount Isa, Cloncurry and Townsville.

She leads the barrel racing title coming into the business end of the season and will turn her attention to returning to being a jockey when her rodeo commitments are completed.

“In a way it kind of makes me want to get my weight down and come back and have a full-time career of it, but obviously I am not a very short jockey,” Patch, who has now ridden eight career winners, said.

“It is hard when I am as tall as I am, I am almost six foot.

“I definitely want to stick with it over the summer, there is more interest now in getting my weight down and trying to come back for the summer season.”

The Sears-trained Piracy went around at Dalby in a Benchmark 60 Handicap over 800 metres to get non-TAB runs under his belt ahead of a Country Stampede qualifier at Chinchilla this weekend.