It has been a momentous twelve months for champion apprentice Siena Grima, and she’s about to tick another item off her bucket list when she rides at the Everest day meeting for the first time.
Since transferring her indentures to leading trainer Chris Waller late last year – a dream come true on its own – Grima has seized every opportunity, claiming the Sydney apprentices’ title and winning the Epsom Handicap on God’s Window in her first Group 1 ride.
That horse’s connections have given her a giant vote of confidence, retaining the junior rider for Saturday’s $5 million King Charles III Stakes (1600m) at Randwick, and Grima is still pinching herself.
“I thought maybe one day in my career I might get a chance to ride in a Group One, let alone have won one already,” Grima said.
“So to go again in another one and on a brilliant horse like him against Autumn Glow and Pride of Jenni and Militarise, it’s very exciting.
“Twelve months ago I was still in the bush.”
On Everest day last year, Grima rode at the NSW provincial meeting at Newcastle and watched the Sydney action from the jockeys’ room there.
She was still apprenticed to her first boss, Tamworth trainer Mel O’Gorman, who she credited with supporting and nurturing her early education before Grima caught the eye of Waller and his assistant trainer, former champion jockey Darren Beadman.
It’s Beadman she will go to for advice on how to ride Saturday’s race, which given the presence of flying mare Pride Of Jenni is likely to be brutally run, while the small field will almost certainly require tactical nous.
“Darren’s expertise is on another level, so I’d love to be able to sit down with them. I’d say I will beforehand, and then again just before we go out, have another little conversation, see what Chris wants to do as well and judge the best path forward,” Grima said.
“But if I can hold a comfortable spot closer than where he normally races and travel well, I know him well enough to know when to get on my bike.
“I was glad to see a nice barrier draw for him. He can jump well so he can put himself in a nice spot.
“Obviously, Pride Of Jenni is in it, so that will make it a real spectacle, a real test of stamina, but I’m really looking forward to it.”
God’s Window did his early racing in England and Grima was the first Australian jockey to partner him when he made his local debut 13 months ago.
She has ridden him in half of his 12 starts for Waller, and while her knowledge of the gelding has no doubt played a part in her retaining the mount, Grima knows it’s still a major deal for an apprentice to be part of a six-horse contest in a $5 million, weight-for-age race.
“The fact I know him so well did play a part in me picking up the ride,” she said.
“But to be put back on him in such a big race is confidence filling. He’s come back a really nice horse this ‘prep’. His first-up run was enormous and then he backed that up into the Epsom and put in such a big run.
“I was worried that might have taken it out of him, but I’ve seen him over the last few days at trackwork and he’s feeling enormous, so I’m really excited to see how he will go.”
God’s Window is one of three rides for Grima at Randwick along with Miss Black Betty in the Group 3 Reginald Allen Quality (1400m) and Estremo in the final race.
