KEY POINTS:
If champion Sydney apprentice Tye Angland ever loses interest in racing he knows were his future lies - in the rodeo ring.
Angland - who joins the groundswell of Australian riders escaping the equine flu outbreak at Avondale today - has been taming bulls and bucking broncos since
he was old enough to walk.
The 18-year-old wonderkid of Sydney's cut-throat racing scene has two brothers Cody, 22, and Rhys, 19, chasing rodeo riches in the US.
Both are on scholarships at a Texas college and already turning heads on the pro tour.
Australia's 2004 junior rodeo champ was set to join them until a chance conversation with a racing-connected teammate in the New South Wales polocrosse team got him thinking about an apprenticeship instead.
Under the expert tutelage of Hawkesbury trainer Garry Frazer, Angland's results have been phenomenal since he began race riding in October 2005.
In his first full season just gone, he rode in a staggering 1031 races for 122 wins, good enough for fourth overall against Sydney's best seniors.
To put that in perspective, only jet-setting Lisa Cropp was busier here last term, notching 146 wins from 1034 rides.
Our top apprentice, Troy Harris, had a relative holiday in comparison - 61 victories from 530 rides.
With a work ethic like that it's no surprise that the EI-sidelined Angland was getting a little frustrated sitting idle.
When his manager Bryan Haskins told him he'd already sent multiple group-winning client Jay Ford across the ditch, Angland leapt at the chance to follow.
"After talking to him [Bryan] I thought I may as well have a crack as well," said Angland yesterday from his temporary Matamata base with www.nzracing news.co.nz editor Wally O'Hearn.
"With the EI outbreak I was just riding trackwork at home so I may as well come to New Zealand and learn while riding for a few different people.
"I'd say I'll be here for three or four weeks at least."
Matamata co-trainer Andrew Scott was hopeful he could give Angland the best possible start to his first OE experience at Avondale today.
Angland has three promising mounts for the Scott/Lance O'Sullivan partnership, with Vannista Belle (race seven) clearly the standout.
Scott says the last-start winner has trained on well since her impressive Paeroa success over 1670m.
"She's a promising staying filly," said Scott of Vannista Belle.
"Mark [Du Plessis] got off her at Paeroa and said she wants to run 2000m already.
"And that's our only concern with her - whether she wants to run 1600m again."
Angland warms up aboard the stable's first-starter, Miss Cape Moss, in race five, the opening leg of PickSix.
And Scott says the long-striding Cape Cross filly, who has been well educated at trials, could go a cheeky race with conditions to suit.
"But she's another who won't hit her straps until she steps up to 1600m and beyond," he said.
Angland, who is bypassing Hastings on Saturday to chase a busier day at Riccarton, may need all his magic to get stablemate Pacific Jewel home in the last.
The Traditionally filly didn't have a lot of luck in her only start last term in stakes company at Avondale.
But without the benefit of a trial as a tune-up, Scott feels she may be better for the run.
Scott rates Purinsesu (race one) as Wexford Stable's best chance, with Cotillion (race six) also a strong each-way hope.
The pace-making Cotillion ran a close eighth on debut behind Run Like Al at Te Rapa in what has turned out to be one of the best form races of the season. n the US.
Both are on scholarships at a Texas college and already turning heads on the pro tour.
Australia's 2004 junior rodeo champ was set to join them until a chance conversation with a racing-connected teammate in the New South Wales polocrosse team got him thinking about an apprenticeship instead.
Under the expert tutelage of Hawkesbury trainer Garry Frazer, Angland's results have been phenomenal since he began race riding in October 2005.
In his first full season just gone, he rode in a staggering 1031 races for 122 wins, good enough for fourth overall against Sydney's best seniors.
To put that in perspective, only jet-setting Lisa Cropp was busier here last term, notching 146 wins from 1034 rides.
Our top apprentice, Troy Harris, had a relative holiday in comparison - 61 victories from 530 rides.
With a work ethic like that it's no surprise that the EI-sidelined Angland was getting a little frustrated sitting idle.
When his manager Bryan Haskins told him he'd already sent multiple group-winning client Jay Ford across the ditch, Angland leapt at the chance to follow.
"After talking to him [Bryan] I thought I may as well have a crack as well," said Angland yesterday from his temporary Matamata base with www.nzracing news.co.nz editor Wally O'Hearn.
"With the EI outbreak I was just riding trackwork at home so I may as well come to New Zealand and learn while riding for a few different people.
"I'd say I'll be here for three or four weeks at least."
Matamata co-trainer Andrew Scott was hopeful he could give Angland the best possible start to his first OE experience at Avondale today.
Angland has three promising mounts for the Scott/Lance O'Sullivan partnership, with Vannista Belle (race seven) clearly the standout.
Scott says the last-start winner has trained on well since her impressive Paeroa success over 1670m.
"She's a promising staying filly," said Scott of Vannista Belle.
"Mark [Du Plessis] got off her at Paeroa and said she wants to run 2000m already.
"And that's our only concern with her - whether she wants to run 1600m again."
Angland warms up aboard the stable's first-starter, Miss Cape Moss, in race five, the opening leg of PickSix.
And Scott says the long-striding Cape Cross filly, who has been well educated at trials, could go a cheeky race with conditions to suit.
"But she's another who won't hit her straps until she steps up to 1600m and beyond," he said.
Angland, who is bypassing Hastings on Saturday to chase a busier day at Riccarton, may need all his magic to get stablemate Pacific Jewel home in the last.
The Traditionally filly didn't have a lot of luck in her only start last term in stakes company at Avondale.
But without the benefit of a trial as a tune-up, Scott feels she may be better for the run.
Scott rates Purinsesu (race one) as Wexford Stable's best chance, with Cotillion (race six) also a strong each-way hope.
The pace-making Cotillion ran a close eighth on debut behind Run Like Al at Te Rapa in what has turned out to be one of the best form races of the season.