Shayleigh Ingelse not making any concessions

By Jordan Gerrans

Shayleigh Ingelse believes she has received a nice confidence booster to kick-start her riding tenure in Queensland after collecting a victory at the Gold Coast on Saturday.

The 24-year-old has been in the Sunshine State for around a month and landed her first blow when she strolled to victory aboard Concession in the QTIS Three-Year-Old Benchmark 65 Handicap over 1200 metres.

Concession is prepared by respected Brisbane horseman Barry Lockwood, who Ingelse has gone on loan to for a three month period.

The apprentice rider has almost 90 winners to her name since debuting in the 2021-22 campaign and is eager to turn her loan spell into a permanent move if all goes to plan.

Concession was well-supported in the market on Saturday and scored by more than three lengths to hand Ingelse her maiden victory north of the border.

The son of Pride Of Dubai had mainly raced at a city level through his first four starts and appreciated the drop back to provincial grade on Saturday.

Ingelse says the sit and steer job she received aboard Concession should boost her confidence for her coming engagements.

“I was rapt to be on him because he is a very nice horse,” Ingelse said.

“I thought Barry looked after me pretty well there. We wanted to see him jump and settle.

“He has had a start over 1000 and 1100 metres and he wanted to go that pace early on so I was mindful of trying to get him to switch off as best as I could.

“But, once I asked for a kick from him, I thought that he was a very nice horse as he obviously put a break on them and was able to maintain it.

“He is probably one of the best horses I have ridden, I reckon, in terms of coming to hand as quickly as he did. He did everything right and he is a genuine racehorse.”

Ingelse was aided by a low barrier draw aboard Concession and she stuck to the rails as the young galloper did the rest.

Gold Coast broadcaster Mitch Manners was quick to identify Ingelse as a rider to watch following her northern move.

“Her claim will become invaluable at the provincials,” Manners said.

“She has ridden a number of winners in New South Wales.”

Ingelse commenced her apprenticeship under the watch of leading Newcastle conditioner Kris Lees before moving to Dubbo to gain more race riding opportunities with Michael Mulholland.

She eventually outrode her country allowance and has looked north to chew through her provincial claim.

Ingelse still claims three kilograms at the provincials.

She has taken four city rides in Sydney.

She is keen to ride at the provincials for the remainder of the 2024-25 season before turning her attention to potentially riding in town in Brisbane.

“It took me a couple of weeks to get going, Barry had a couple of nice horses for me but they either had to go to the paddock or drew bad barriers and things like that,” she said.

“But, it was a bit of a patience game to start with, so it was good to finally get there on there on the weekend.

“Things are starting to look up now. Hopefully things go well during the loan period and I can stay on, that is the goal.

“Hopefully I can outride my provincial claim and chip away at a bit of the metro claim, as well.”

Ingelse is well-travelled in her pursuit of becoming a city-level rider.

She comes from a rodeo background and has spent time in Tasmania, Victoria and NSW before making her way up the coast to Queensland.

As well as the winning ride for her new master on Saturday, the apprentice has also picked up opportunities from David Murphy and Lindsay Gough and will have a booking for Bryan Dais at Ipswich on Saturday.

The rides for Murphy, Gough and Dais have come to fruition with Lockwood encouraging Ingelse to ride outside work.

“Barry obviously has a lot of very good horses and knows a lot about training,” she said.

“I am very interested in the horse and training side of it all, as well as being a jockey.

“I find it very interesting so I like to pick his brain.

“He sat down with me before the races and we spoke about the tracks and how I should look to ride them and things like that.

“He has been very supportive and he has helped me out a lot since I have been here already.”

The Lockwood stable have two apprentices at the moment with fellow youngster Shakira Bailey enjoying a strong season, picking up four winners so far.