There is a fine line in racing between winning and trying too hard – and it’s often blurred. Those that find the right side of the line succeed. On the other side, it leads to frustration and unfulfilled dreams.
For Godolphin apprentice Zac Lloyd it’s a line that could stop him from joining the likes of Wayne Harris, Darren Beadman, Hugh Bowman, Tim Clark and Tommy Berry this year. The talented teen has five wins to make up on Dylan Gibbons in the Sydney apprentice premiership with six Saturdays left in the season as he returns from another careless riding suspension.
Zac Lloyd rides Yoshino to victory in May, one of his 58 winners during a troubled campaign.Credit: Getty
The gap is not insurmountable, especially with Gibbons suspended this weekend, but it is important Lloyd stays in the saddle until the end of July.
“I just want to ride well, that’s all I can do,” Lloyd said. “And not get time again. No one hurts more than me when it happens [a suspension] and I have only myself to blame. I have a lot of help around me, but it’s something I have to get right. “Lloyd’s list of mentors is long, and it starts with his father, Jeff, a champion jockey throughout the world, and includes Beadman, Godolphin’s assistant trainer who knows what it is like to be at the top of a generation of riders.
There is no doubt about Lloyd’s competitiveness, and his strike rate of more than 21 per cent is the best in Sydney. He is a winner, and that is evident from another remarkable statistic: he has 58 city winners this year and 31 seconds, a ratio that is usually about 50-50.
However, it is the months he has spent suspended that are holding Lloyd back. Beadman knows it and told him to get away from Sydney as he served back-to-back suspensions in the past month.
“He was just getting to a point where he needed to get away from it,” Beadman said. “There is so much pressure that comes with racing and not being able to ride only adds to it. It was good to clear his mind and get different experiences.”
Zac Lloyd is still in the hunt to win the Sydney apprentice title.Credit: Getty
Lloyd went to Europe and rode for Charlie Appleby at Newmarket for a couple of days. Beadman hopes it will help with his maturity, which is a key to the development of a young rider.
“You need to find out where the fine line between getting suspended and not sits,” Beadman said. “Zac is struggling with that. It comes with maturity, and it is something you learn.
“He’s got a very good race brain, but sometimes he is trying to ride beyond his years. There is only a stride between getting it right and wrong, and he will learn to understand it. What has been most impressive about Zac is his ability to be able to understand other riders and how to ride tracks; it’s something he has naturally.”
Lloyd came to Sydney for an opportunity to learn, and the initial expectation was for him to ride the provincials with the lure of getting to Sydney for the second half of this season. But once he got a chance in the city last year it was clear where he belonged.
“He was very impressive straight away,” Godolphin trainer James Cummings said. “He just started to ride winners, and we didn’t want to hold him back. Now we get to this point of the season where we are going to be supporting him because it would be a great achievement to win the title.”
The expectation was Gibbons and last year’s champion apprentice, Tyler Schiller, would fight it out for the 2022-23 title, but Lloyd made himself a factor quickly. He has a self-belief that has made it happen. It has been tested by suspensions, but Lloyd will be back to where he belongs at Randwick tomorrow, where he has a full book of rides, including three favourites.
He rides in the Godolphin blue on Contemporary, Alcyone and Yoshino, which he has won on three times.
“Yoshino is one of my favourites; I have been riding him since I got here,” Lloyd said. “He is a nice horse. Contemporary is a great ride to come back to, so I might be able to get a winner for Godolphin. My best ride is probably Queenmaker for Edward Cummings. I owe him one for missing last start when I was out.
“It will just be good to be back at the races and riding again.”
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