English-born hoop Rachel King had her first job in Australia for Bart Cummings and now she has her first ride in the Melbourne Cup, which the Cups King won 12 times.
It’s more than six years since Bart Cummings died but some of the racing polish of the Cups King will be on display when former English jockey Rachel King takes her first ride in the great race.
At 23, King left Britain for Australia on a working holiday Down Under to escape the frigid English winter.
She landed a job with the doyen Bart Cummings whose health was failing at the time and grandson James was taking on most of the day-to-day work.
But Bart’s influence was never far away.
“When I came over for a working holiday it was Bart and James who were working together, I actually never got to meet Bart as he was quite sick by then and he had stopped coming to the stables,” King said.
“But watched the methods that were being used at the stables, which were Bart’s methods.
“It is quite funny how James was technically my first boss and now I have got a really good association for him and have ridden for Godolphin.
“My first two months in Australia was just as a trackwork rider, I never had any grand expectations, so it’s quite incredible that here I am now preparing to ride in the Melbourne Cup.”
Sydney-based King has been called upon by another racing legend, seven-time Melbourne Cup winning owner Lloyd Williams, to ride Pondus in Tuesday’s Cup.
Riding for Williams will be a new experience for King but she will take the pressure cooker of Melbourne Cup week in her stride.
After starting her racing journey in Australia with the Cummings’ clan, she is chuffed that Williams has called on her to ride in the great race.
“I think in the Melbourne Cup, you don’t want to be wearing any other sort of colours, they are the right sort of colours to be wearing,” King said.
“I think Pondus looks good going into the race, I thought his run last start (when fourth in the Moonee Valley Gold Cup) was good because the race wasn’t run to suit.”
King, who advanced her racing career in Australia by working for Gai Waterhouse and travelling with the Tulloch Lodge team, never grew up dreaming of riding in a Melbourne Cup.
The jockey who once competed mainly as an amateur in her homeland did not take a huge amount of interest in Australian racing when she was young.
But King has had a first-hand taste of the Melbourne Cup before.
In 2016, King’s Melbourne Cup passion grew when she was in the Flemington grandstands to watch partner Blake Spriggs ride Sir John Hawkwood in the Cup.
Sir John Hawkwood finished 18th and was beaten more than 20 lengths and the Cup was his final race start.
But King knew then she one day wanted to ride in the Cup.
“All of Blake’s family went that day and the horse only went fair and he was retired afterwards and given a great life post racing,” King said.
“I was just in the grandstand but it was an incredible atmosphere and was quite nice to see from that side of the fence.”
Robert Hickmott-trained Pondus is not fancied in the Melbourne Cup betting market – a $34 chance after drawing barrier one
But neither was Prince Of Penzance when Michelle Payne created history by becoming the first female jockey to win the Cup in 2015.
King is trying to walk in Payne’s footsteps.
King says she has always felt there have been a lot more opportunities for female jockeys in Australia than there were in Britain before she left home.
Originally published as Rachel King striving to become the second female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup
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