Horse racing: Craig Grylls eyes premiership as Leica Lucy races in NZ Oaks

Craig Grylls riding Leicy Lucy. Photo / Kenton Wright Race Images

Goodbye superstar, hello premiership.

That is the lucrative emotional rollercoaster one of racing’s most popular jockeys Craig Grylls could find himself on this weekend as one of his career goals starts to turn into a near certainty.

Grylls heads to Trentham today to partner red-hot favourite Leica Lucy in the $1 million New Zealand Oaks. It will also likely be the the last time he rides her.

A controlling share in Leica Lucy has been sold to an Australian group headed by Ozzie Kheir and she will leave trainer Robbie Patterson to join Chris Waller in Sydney after today’s Group 1.

“It will be shame to see her go but we all understand how that works and I am thrilled for her owners, who are really good people,” says Grylls.

“I have loved riding her and she has real class. I have been lucky enough to ride some really good horses for Robbie but she has that x-factor.”

While all of Leica Lucy’s summer wins have come on good tracks, she does have wet form should the rain return to Trentham today.

Punters taking the short odds might also ponder barrier 1 on a track where the inside could be cutting up late in the day, but Grylls has been very adept at finding the right gaps with Leica Lucy so it would surprise if she stays on the inner for long, should it deteriorate.

In an Oaks that lacks black-type depth, last-start Sunline Vase winner Island Life looks clearly the greatest danger to the favourite.

The Oaks is one of the last Group 1s of the season and that stage of the year tends to draw a line in the sand for Grylls.

He has been a contender for the jockeys' premiership over summer in recent seasons but always says he will wait until after the carnivals to decide whether to chase the title he has never won.

This year Grylls won’t be chasing the title because it is already his to lose.

He started yesterday with 98 wins for the season, 39 ahead of Lily Sutherland and Sam Spratt, equal on 59, and has been $1.01 to win the premiership for weeks with the TAB.

“I didn’t expect to be this far in front,” Grylls says with a smile.

“In the past I have got to this stage and had to decide whether I wanted to head south and add to the workload to make a go of it but it has never worked out.

“I am a busy rider anyway but having a good lead, I will just keep doing what I am doing, riding at the Central Districts meeting most weeks and all the northern ones.”

If Grylls stays injury-free he should claim the title when the season officially ends on July 31.

“It is something I have always wanted to achieve so I’d love to get it,” says the 35-year-old.

“But all I can do is keep riding and keep trying to be consistent, which I feel like I have this season.”

While the Oaks is the centrepiece of today’s meeting, it has a huge support programme headlined by the Wellington Guineas, the Cuddle Stakes, the Lightning and the St Leger.

The latter not only features last-start Auckland Cup winner Trav but also New Zealand Cup winner Mehzebeen and Wellington Cup winner Wolfgang, marking a very rare occasion the three reigning major cup winners in New Zealand have met in the same race later that season.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.