A couple of months ago, jockey Reece Jones decided that winners were the most important thing, no matter where they came.
He returned to bush racing and rode a four-time at his old home track of Scone in October, which kicked his season into gear.
“I just wasn’t getting the rides, and they weren’t the right rides when I got them”, Jones said. “I decided to get back to basics and got a bit of support from trainers. It’s amazing the difference getting a couple of wins makes to your confidence. You start riding better.”
The chances flowed from winners, and Jones picking up the winning ride on Vivy Air in the Five Diamonds.
Now he heads to Perth to link with Depth of Character in Saturday’s Railway Stakes for Rob and Annabel Archibald.
“I don’t really know how I got the ride, my manager threw my hat in the ring for it and I got booked,” Jones said. “I didn’t really have many rides at Kembla, so I was prepared to go to Perth.”
“It’s a Group 1 ride with a good chance, they don’t come along too often.”
”You have to take these chances, and like with Vivy Air, there might be a win just around the corner.”
The Archibald stable has provided Jones with three wins from just 10 rides in his spring resurgence and that would have given them confidence in him.
“I have been doing a bit of riding for Annabel and Rob and got a few winners for them. I think that might have helped,” Jones said.
“They have actually been important to what I have done in the past couple of months because their support got me feeling good again.”
“It would be a great way to pay them back by getting a Group 1 for them.”
The Archibalds won the Railway with Port Lockroy, which came off a similar preparation to Depth Of Character when he headed to Perth last year.
Depth Of Character, a $10 chance in the Railway, might have a better resume than Port Lockroy as a Queensland Guineas winner and coming off a last start fourth in the Golden Eagle.
“He was only two lengths from Autumn Glow, that’s clearly the best form going into this race,” Jones said.
“I would have liked to have drawn better than the outside gate [of 20], that doesn’t make it easy but I’m confident I’m on the right horse.”
