Sophie follows racing dreams
FORMER Leongatha local Sophie Herrald-Logan is making waves in the racing world.
Most recently, Sophie was proud to win the Port Lincoln Cup in South Australia on March 1.
“It was one of the biggest thrills of my career. It was quite a significant race and I was thrilled to win it for the trainers and the owners,” she said.
At age 16, Sophie started a hairdressing apprenticeship.
Eighteen months later, she announced to her family that she was quitting her apprenticeship to follow her dream to become a jockey.
Initially, Sophie underwent track work in Cranbourne, requiring her to travel from Leongatha at 2.30am each day.
She worked as a stable hand, track rider and strapper for a few different trainers.
She then applied for an apprenticeship with Racing Victoria and was selected once she passed all the requirements.
After six months, Sophie decided she was not ready to commit to the role, as she was still show jumping competitively and training horses on her own.
As a result, she decided to get her picnic jockey licence for Saturday picnic races.
She rode many winners and placed regularly during this time.
After a couple of years, it was time to take the next step.
To try her hand at becoming a professional jockey, she moved to Murray Bridge, South Australia, and was selected as a professional apprentice to Grant Young.
As an apprentice, she is required to work and train full time, as well as going to apprentice school once a week. The apprenticeship is for three years.
She rode in her first professional race in October last year, riding Euro Gold at Naracoorte to win the race.
Since then, she has ridden 23 winners, including two Cups.
Growing up watching well known jockey Damien Oliver, Sophie said she had always wanted to be a jockey and was grateful for the support provided to her by Mr Young and his wife Lisa.
“My goals are to continue riding well and keep getting this level of support. Hopefully if I continue this way I will see more success,” she said.
“I’ve enjoyed my work and I have learned a lot from the trainers.”
Sophie also thanked her family for supporting her dreams each step of the way.
Short URL: /?p=27979
Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Mar 19 2019. Filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
