Blake Shinn is arguably Australia’s most in-form jockey, famed for his steely focus, and whose idea of a good time is watching race replays.
Glen Boss is the retired champion hoop with a big personality who became a household name after his three straight Melbourne Cup wins on Makybe Diva.
They are two polar opposites, but have forged a close friendship that will come as a surprise to most people in racing.
Boss is on the Gold Coast while Shinn is based in Melbourne, but the pair speak at least once a week about life and racing – including how Shinn should go about piloting Tempted in Saturday’s Golden Slipper.
Boss remains a huge fan of James McDonald, Australia’s most successful jockey of the modern era, but said of Shinn: “On current form, Blake is the best rider in Australia. There’s no doubt. He’s the best rider in Australia right now.”
They can’t pinpoint the exact moment they became mates, but both Shinn and Boss admitted the drama surrounding the 2008 Golden Slipper brought them closer.
Glen Boss and Blake Shinn record a podcast in Sydney this week.Credit: Steven Siewert/SMH
Shinn had just moved from Melbourne to Sydney, but was suspended and lost the ride on Slipper favourite Sebring. When Shinn failed to have his ban reduced on appeal, Boss – who was in Hong Kong – answered an SOS call from trainer Gai Waterhouse. Sebring won the Slipper.
“I remember speaking with Blake about Sebring, and how he wanted the horse to win as much as I did,” Boss said. “He talked me through the horse’s mannerisms, and what to expect.”
Shinn sat at home in his living room overlooking The Australian Golf Club, and watched Sebring’s victory with mixed emotions. He knew it should have been him, but was glad for Boss, who later became his housemate for a few months.
“We’re polar opposites in many ways,” Boss said. “But I’m very drawn to people who want to extract everything out of themselves to succeed. I gravitate to those people. Blake is one of those people. I’ve got no time for people who have all the ability in the world but are forever running into trouble, or want to piss their talents against the wall.”
The two jockeys have become good friends, speaking on a weekly basis about life and racing.Credit: Steven Siewert/SMH
While he won his share of group 1s over the years, Shinn found himself hauled into the stewards room more often than he would have liked. Boss then spotted a flaw in his riding technique.
“Put simply, Blake was not letting a horse go through its gears – he wanted them to go from first gear to fourth gear too quickly,” Boss said of Shinn.
“Because he was rushing, and because he was already riding on a long rein, he had one hand to the side, and too much tension on the one side, which caused his horses to shift around. He was closing gaps on other horses and didn’t even know it.
“We addressed that, and now you see the horses come up underneath him – he’s now getting horses to travel for him a long way out.”
Glen Boss boots home Sebring to win the 2008 Golden Slipper.Credit: Getty Images
Shinn appreciates having a “living legend” on speed dial. The duo devised a plan to win the Queensland Derby on Warmonger last year.
Eight years after missing out with Sebring, Shinn piloted Capitalist to victory in the 2016 Slipper. In that same race, Tempted’s mother – or dam – Calliope, finished at the back of the field.
English looked the winner for Shinn at the top of the straight in the 2017 Slipper, only to be beaten by stablemate Vancouver. In 2019 he partnered the highly fancied Yes Yes Yes, but the colt drew wide then went No No No on the heavy track.
Shinn eventually banked his second Slipper last year, on Lady Of Camelot. Boss still credits Shinn’s decision to head to Hawkesbury to get Lady Of Camelot to relax in a trial as a big reason the filly, who had a tendency to over-race, won the Slipper.
Now 37, Shinn has set himself the target of 200 winners this season. His personal best is 167 winners. He was up to 123 during the week, with four months of the season remaining. Included in that personal haul were a couple of big-race victories in New Zealand last month. He will go close to nailing the magical milestone.
Shinn is a deep thinker, in a loving relationship with trainer Lucy Yeomans, appreciates fine dining and enjoys the occasional trip to the golf range.
It has been an emotional time for Shinn. Last month, just days after the death of Mike Moroney – with whom he had a close relationship – Shinn fought back tears after winning aboard Burlington Gate, a horse prepared by the Melbourne Cup winning trainer.
Also on in his mind is the impending anniversary of the death of good friend Guy Walter, the trainer of Tie The Knot fame who died of a suspected heart attack in his Warwick Farm home in May, 2014, aged 59.
Tempted (royal blue) wins the Reisling Stakes.Credit: Getty Images
The day Shinn rode I’ve Got The Looks, the last horse saddled up by Guy’s wife, Wendy – who held the fort in the emotional weeks following her husband’s death – “will go down as one of my five favourite moments in racing”.
“Mike and Guy were such gentlemen,” Shinn said. “I think about Mike. I still think about Guy. The way he made you feel after a bad ride or making a mistake in a race was humbling. I murdered a horse one day at Hawkesbury, yet Guy was so polite afterwards, and even told me how well he thought I had ridden the horse. That was the man he was.
“I’m getting older, I’m getting wiser and making better decisions. But I also know I get caught up in work and in trying to win all the time.
“Then you get reminded about life and how it can be taken away from you so quickly. I do think about that.”
Shinn, whose first encounter with Tempted will be in the Rosehill mounting yard before the race, liked what he had seen of the Godolphin filly this campaign, and expected her to settle just off the pace from barrier one.
Chris Waller’s Wodeton will jump from directly outside Tempted, but is expected to be knocked off the top line of betting by Tempted come race time.
As they enjoyed an early dinner at Barangaroo on Thursday night, after recording an episode of Boss’s podcast, Who’s The Boss, Boss told Shinn: “Go out and ride her like she’s a good thing. She’s got the profile of a filly who should win the race. She absorbs pressure. And she’s been able to still win or be competitive when starting from bad barriers. All her runs have been very level. I think she’ll start a strong favourite.”
