A familiar name has recently returned to the senior jockey riding ranks.
Kate Hercock, who has won 242 races and over $3 million in prize-money, took a 10-year hiatus from raceday riding and is now back at the track, chalking up more winners.
And on Saturday at Awapuni, she combined with Belle Plaisir to win the Listed James Bull Holdings Rangitikei Gold Cup for trainer Lucy Tanner.
“I didn’t think I’d be winning a black-type race in my first six months back!” Hercock told RaceForm earlier this week. “But it’s nice when people still believe in you.
“She’s pretty good, that horse. She hadn’t had much luck in some of her races, but she’s always had a ton of ability. I could have ridden a few in the race, but I said, ‘I’m not getting off her’ – I was pretty confident going into the race. I just can’t work out why she paid so much!
“She wasn’t 100 per cent happy in the ground, but she’s so tough. People say it was a good ride, but it’s easy when the gaps open in front of you. A lot of it comes down to luck in racing.”
Belle Plaisir defied her $23 quote, and gave local trainer Lucy Tanner her second black-type victory. Flemington provided her first when he won the Gr. 3 Hawke’s Bay Gold Cup back in 2012.
“Training is a hard game. Lucy (Tanner) rides all her own work, she does everything herself and she works a fulltime job. She was so nervous before the race, but when I hopped on the mare, who goes out early, I told her to stop worrying, and that it was my time to worry.
“I came back in after, and said to her, ‘what were you stressing about?’ It’s easy to say after!” Hercock laughs.
The 42-year-old returned to raceday riding at the start of 2021 and had her first win back aboard Sunlit Lane at New Plymouth on 26 March.
“It was a bit of a slow start back to begin with, and I’m grateful to people like Lucy Tanner, Shane Brown and Roger Allen. They’ve stuck with me,” says Hercock.
“I’m lucky that a few of those smaller trainers, who still have nice, fit horses in their stables, have been so good to me. I’ve always gone by loyalty – look after the ones that look after you.”
Hercock grew up in Hawke’s Bay and began her career as a jockey in the 1994/95 season. Her success took her to Macau in 2010, and when she returned to New Zealand, she took up a role as a pretrainer at Waikato Stud.
She then worked as a trackwork rider at Te Akau for three years, before eventually making the decision to move back to Hawke’s Bay and take a break from riding altogether.
“Racing consumes your life. You’re always on the road travelling, you’re never home. I’d had a gutsful of riding, to be honest,” she admits.
“I’d get to Sunday, and people would want to go and do something, but I couldn’t be bothered because I’d be tired, and have an early start the next day, trials, races, it never stops.
“Hawke’s Bay had always been home, and I said to Mum that I needed a change and decided to head down there and do something for myself. My Mum came too, and my aunt is also down here – she makes horse covers at CHB Covers and helps with my raceday rides.
“After I came down, I was pretty much showjumping fulltime, and had been having a lot of success doing that, but it all costs money, and I’ve still got to make a living.”
Hercock initially returned to raceday riding primarily to ride a few of her own horses, but life has gotten busier since she’s returned to the riding ranks, and she is grateful for the support network that she has around her. In particular, she cites Lynsey Satherley as her biggest advocate.
“She texts me after my rides with advice, and she was the first one to message me to congratulate me after my first win back.
“Kirsty Lawrence is also great to me and sometimes drives me to the races, while Simon Wilson also helps me work my horses.
“I’m also very lucky to have Kim Clapperton in the jockeys’ room. Early on after I came back, she took me aside, and said to me, ‘you’re trying too hard. Stop trying so hard, go out there, and enjoy it.’
“It’s nice to have her in your corner. If I’m not sure about something, I can go and talk to her and she’ll do anything to help out. It would have been so nice to have someone like her when I was an apprentice – the young ones these days are really lucky to have her.”
Hercock is taking each day as it comes, and isn’t fixated on setting goals for herself as a rider these days.
“I’m just happy to cruise along and take everything as it comes at the moment. It would be nice to get a winner every week, but it’s not the end of the world if I don’t.
“I just like to go out there and enjoy myself and give the trainers and owners every opportunity to earn some money. Obviously, it would be nice to ride a Group winner, and I think Belle Plaisir is good enough to win a Group race.”
