A WINNING ride in his first race followed by a feature success - Saturday's Bedgerabong Picnics meeting is one that Will Stanley is likely to remember for a long time.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It's also why Wanda Ings thinks the Bathurst teenager has a big future ahead of him
It was the Ings trained Dot The Eye that the 17-year-old rode to victory in his first race, the 1,100 metres Maiden Plate.
While Dot The Eye ($7) had placed no better than third in his six prior career runs, with Stanley in the saddle the five-year-old gelding held on to beat $3.50 favourite Arealist.
"We took the horse out there especially for him because it was a picnic meeting ... Will had been doing all the work on him and had been doing pretty well so we thought he may as well have the ride," Bathurst-based trainer Ings said.
"He lifted the horse, he actually drove it out, and there are not a lot of kids who can do that.
"It's like he's riding years beyond himself, I can see him having a big future."
Will Stanley, the son of former Bathurst trainer Peter Stanley and younger brother of jockey Ashleigh Stanley, has been working with Ings for around 12 months to get experience before doing his professional apprenticeship.
But even though he is still learning his craft, Ings has been impressed by what she has seen.
"He's doing really well, we are very excited because he's only really been riding for 18 months doing track work," she said.
"He had a horrific accident when he first started riding, it happened when he was doing track work riding for his Dad Peter Stanley. He nearly sheared off his nose, but they did a wonderful job with the mirco surgery and you can't even tell now.
"He just rides with an air of seniority, he doesn't ride like he's learning - which he is - but he just has this air about him, he's got this confidence.
"He's a real gentleman, he's got a lot of good attributes about him."
After getting the job done on Dot The Eye, Stanley had rides for Parkes trainer Sharon Jeffries and Gilgandra's Bryan Dixon before saddling up in the Bedgerabong Picnic Cup (1,400m).
He was aboard the Dixon trained Song One ($3.80). Stanley guided the eight-year-old around the field to take the lead leaving the back straight.
From there Song One went on to win the $9,000 feature by a length over Regina Margherita ($10).
It was the first win for the gelding since he saluted at Narromine four months earlier, with Stanley being presented the cup by Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack.
"So his very first ride was his first win, he had two rides in between, then in his fourth ride he won the cup," Ings said. "The kid's a natural, the way he picks things up.
"He also wants to ride all our hard horses just so he can learn, he's working with our hard horses, he's just got a real knack for it.
"He's also riding this Saturday at the Condobolin Picnics, he's already got three or four rides there, so he's pretty excited about that."
