Walk into Chris Waller’s stables after trackwork finishes most mornings and you will see star apprentice Siena Grima on a broom like the other workers.
She might have her name in the racebook at every city meeting as a jockey, but Grima wants to work.
It’s something that is highly valued at Australia’s most successful stable.
“She is there before me in the morning, and when I’m leaving she is working next to everyone else,” trackwork rider Chris Harwood said.
“She loves being around the horses, you can see that, and she loves working.
“That’s why she is so popular with the staff, and they are pulling for her to win the apprentice title.”
Grima only arrived at Waller’s stable in December on a three-month loan from Northern Rivers trainer Mel O’Gorman, but now the Sydney apprentices’ title beckons in the final month of the season.
When she arrived, there were no promises and no fanfare.
But one thing that immediately shone through was Grima’s attitude.
“She just wanted to learn,” said former champion jockey Darren Beadman, whose responsibility is sharpening her skills.
“That takes you a long way.
“She has just kept improving, and you can see it every Saturday.
“We have been working on a few things, and she did a couple of them last Saturday, and they were the difference between winning or not.”
Grima rode a winning treble at Rosehill last Saturday, which took her to within two wins of defending apprentice champion Braith Nock.
As the season enters its final month, Grima would be considered favourite for the apprentice title with the backing of Waller’s team.
“That’s something that doesn’t just happen [getting rides for Waller],” assistant trainer Charlie Duckworth said.
“She has earned the right to have those rides. She has earned the trust.
“She has shown us that she is up with the other jockeys in Sydney and she has an advantage with the claim.
“The thing about her is she is a country girl, and you see that in the stables. She will be standing a horse up for us and she will say, ‘I just want to take this one home’.
“It is the way she is, unassuming, but you can see the drive in her, and that’s why she is where she is.”
Grima has a permanent place in Sydney because of who she is and what she can achieve.
It is a change from other apprentices who have had opportunities at Waller’s. One bigger name lasted two weeks.
“Once staff worked out he wasn’t going to fit in, that was it,” an insider said.
The Waller stable hasn’t been associated with apprentices throughout its storied history, but when Beadman joined the team last year, he saw it as an opportunity.
The former champion jockey, who learned his craft from Theo Green, knows the time an apprentice takes to develop.
He had been part of that process with Zac Lloyd at Godolphin, passing on his wisdom as one of the best riders Australia has seen.
“Chris is very busy, and he doesn’t have the time to put in with apprentices,” Beadman said.
“I said to him the right apprentice could be an asset for the stable, but we need to find them.
“I remember when I was doing my time, the boss [Green] would walk behind us in the afternoon and just talk to us about riding. You don’t realise how much having someone on your side helped.
“Chris can’t put in that time, but I can.
“It is different now. I’ll talk with Siena about her riding and work on different things with her.”
The most satisfying part of the work with Grima has been the past couple of months for Beadman.
Her natural affinity with horses now has an extra edge with the skills she has learned and put into practice.
The high point came on Surf’s Up and Tarzing last weekend.
“We had been working on changing hands with the whip, like JMac does, and getting a bit extra from horses in doing that,” Beadman said.
“She did it on Surf’s Up and it was the difference between winning and losing, and the ride on Tarzing was one where she was closer. That is another difference in the past two months.
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“It comes with confidence, but also the willingness to learn and the ability to put it into action.
“That is what you are seeing every Saturday. You can see her getting better and it’s not just on raceday.”
Grima has become a key part of the trackwork team at Waller’s and is riding the likes of Autumn Boy, Fireball and Campione D’Italia in the mornings.
“She is a good trackwork rider and there aren’t many jockeys that are,” Duckworth said.
“They quite often want to find what’s under the hood and give them a squeeze.
“She has a good clock, and we can trust her on the good ones to do the work we want.”
But it’s also something Grima worked on.
“We got a few videos of our horses working up the straight in the morning,” Beadman explained.
“I showed her the difference in her body position to the other riders and she changed it and got better.
“There is a lot more to come from her with other little improvements.”
Grima will be the centre of attention for the next month in Sydney, along with Nock, as they battle for the apprentice title, much like Zac Lloyd and Dylan Gibbons did a couple of years ago.
She will get the support of Waller, who has her aboard exciting three-year-olds Omolong, Hello Captain and Tarzing at Rosehill on Saturday. All are expected to start favourites.
“I don’t think it’s going to affect her that much because she is so focused,” Beadman said.
“As she’s been getting on better horses, and at the same time she has been getting better, that is a pretty good combination.
“If she keeps doing that she will keep getting the results.”
