Brooke Johnson ready for provincial test

By Jordan Gerrans

Just days after going within a whisker of riding the card at Ilfracombe, promising apprentice hoop Brooke Johnson is eager to take the next step in her career at the provincial level.

The 21-year-old was last week granted a provincial licence to ride, which means she can now ply her trade on her home track of Rockhampton as well as heading further north to Townsville.

Johnson’s old country licence allowed her to ride on the non-TAB circuit as well as country TAB meetings, including Cairns and Mackay.

Johnson went close to writing her name in the record books on Saturday in the Central West as she almost rode the card on the dirt at Ilfracombe.

She piloted four winners across the five-event program and in the race she did not lift the prize, she was beaten 0.4 lengths on a galloper that started as the second favourite.

All of Johnson’s rides at Ilfracombe on Saturday started at $4 or shorter in the market.

The emerging jockey knew she could be in for a big day before the first event and went on to ride the first two races of the program.

She finished second in the third event before collecting the last two.

“When the third horse ran second, I thought ‘oh damn’ because it was so close,” Johnson said.

“I knew the rest of my day was pretty good chances. I thought I could ride the card and then running second in that third race, that wrecked it.

“Going into the race day, I thought if everything went well I could ride four winners and it did work out that way.

“I was very happy as it does not happen very often.”

The young rider is rising through the ranks quickly.

Johnson bagged four winners from four rides at Bowen in the middle of May earlier this year.

It is a rare occurrence for a hoop to ride the card across a non-TAB program in the Sunshine State.

North Queensland jockey Jeffrey Felix achieved the incredible feat at Prairie in August of 2021.

Johnson has frequented the Central West in recent weeks, riding at tracks such as Barcaldine on two occasions, Blackall and Emerald.

She has linked up with the leading local stable of Toni Schofield.

Schofield and Johnson each collected four winners from Saturday’s Ilfracombe card.

The apprentice hoop – who works for top provincial horseman Clinton Taylor – rode work on Saturday morning at Callaghan Park before making the long trip out to the Central West.

“If you do the kilometres, you will get the rewards,” she said.

“It opens up a lot of opportunities and I will keep doing it if I can get the rewards.”

Johnson began her apprenticeship with Yeppoon trainer Benny Crear before transferring to Taylor’s stable.

She was always riding work for Taylor even when she indentured to Crear.

As Taylor operates one of the leading stable’s in regional Queensland, Johnson says it makes sense to be under the care of a top horseman such as him.

Taylor is ranked inside the top 20 trainers in the Sunshine State for winners this campaign so far and has boasted a strong strike-rate in recent seasons.

Johnson is also amongst the elite in Queensland in the 2023-24 statistics, posting 28 winners so far to be ninth among jockey’s in the state.

“I can’t think Clint enough for that, he seems to always know what is best for me and pushes me in the right direction,” the young hoop said.

“The provincials are now my next step and Clint has always wanted me to move up to the next level and keep going.

“It works out good. I am happy to take it slow for the provincials for now and if Clinton has one that suits me then I will take that on.

“I will take it easy, I do not want to rush into it.”

Taylor has praised Johnson’s work ethic in recent weeks.

Johnson will get her first chance to test herself at provincial level with meetings at Rockhampton and Townsville over the next week.