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John Allen |
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Shawy38
Champion Joined: 13 Jun 2015 Status: Offline Points: 17411 |
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Posted: 08 Jun 2022 at 8:05pm |
Allen set for extended breakStar jockey John Allen won't be seen at another Victorian metropolitan meeting this season, with the 37-year-old announcing he's heading home to Ireland for an extended break. The 17-time Group 1-winning hoop hasn't been able to return to his homeland in several years due to COVID. "Obviously with COVID it's been three years since I've been home now, so I'll just get home, see a few friends," Allen said. "It'll be good to get home, going to pop into Royal Ascot for a couple of days on the way home, I've got a couple of weddings to get back for too. "It's getting very cold and wet out here now so it's a good time to go." Allen sits comfortably atop the overall Victorian Jockeys' Premiership table with 130 winners for the season thus for, striking at just under 18 per cent, including 38 metropolitan winners. I've had a good season. Over the last month I've been trying to establish somewhat of a lead, it'll sort itself out, it is what it is," Allen said. Allen heads to Brisbane for two rides for the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace team on Saturday, Lethal Thoughts in the G1 J.J. Atkins and Le Don De Vie in the G2 Q22. The gun hoop will spend the next two months in his homeland before returning on the eve of the Spring Carnival. "I'll be back in early August," Allen said. |
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Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing
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Gay3
Moderator Group Joined: 19 Feb 2007 Location: Miners Rest Status: Offline Points: 52012 |
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Johnny Allen pictured at Tramore in 2006 On Saturday, I won my sixth Group 1 on the flat and fourth in the last seven months when Kenedna took the spoils in the Doomben Cup, just five weeks after we had combined to claim the last championship race of the Sydney Carnival at Randwick, the Group 1 Coolmore Legacy Stakes. It was an overdue first Group 1 for Kenedna and she clearly has gotten the taste for it now. I suppose I have too and it was nice to win a Group 2 on the same day and follow up with a treble on Sunday. It was funny in a way because I won a Group 2 on Kenedna at Flemington last November on the same day I rode Trap For Fools to hold off Joseph O’Brien’s Irish Derby winner Latrobe in the Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes, one of the major races of the Melbourne Carnival campaign. It all seems a long way away from when I was struggling at home trying to make it as a jump jockey. The world has gotten a lot smaller and the fact that I was beating Joseph in Australia, having worked in a different life on The Hill myself was another indication of that. The love of horses came from home. My mother taught in the pony club and we had ponies since we were able to walk. All of our friends had ponies. It was the thing to do around Araglen when we were younger. When I was 12 or 13 I started working with Sean O’Brien on the weekends and summer holidays. He was my first introduction to racehorses. Sean and his family have always been very supportive of me. I came through pony racing and spent three months with Pat Doyle, where I learned a lot about schooling horses. In October 2002, I moved to Piltown to work for Frances Crowley but she moved to the Curragh a few months later and her father Joe took over. He scaled the operation down but I had three or four good seasons and won some big handicaps for Joe on Delgany Rose and Golden Storm. I rode my first winner for Frances in February 2003, on a horse called Permiya in Clonmel and it was only 11 months later that Charles Byrnes legged me up on Dromlease Express for us to win the Pierse Hurdle. I finished second to Robbie Power in the conditional jockeys’ table that season. The next couple of years went nicely and it was great to win a Listed chase on Strong Project for Sean O’Brien at Thurles. But after clocking up 26 winners in the 2005/2006 season, Joe retired and I had lost my claim. The winners began to dry up and then so did the rides. I first came out to Australia to work in 2011 after I had seen an advert in the paper. Ken Whelan and Stephen Gray flew over on the same plane. I said I would go for the season and see what happened. I always had the desire to do a bit of travelling and had been in Australia seven years earlier as part of the Irish team for the annual jockeys’ challenge. I was at the point of my career at home where it was nearly time to go down a different avenue, move to England, America or Australia or even go training. The opportunity came up to go with Australia. It was a big decision to go but I was pretty enthusiastic to take it up. Darren Weir was anxious for me to come back when I went home after the first season so I did and he was very good to me. He gave me the ride on Gotta Take Care and we won 10 times together. In 2014, I won the Grand National on Wells and two Grand Annuals at Warnambool for Ciaron Maher, who Ruby Walsh rode Bashboy for to win the Grand National in 2015 and is now joint trainer of Kenedna with David Eustace. I was doing well but there just isn’t enough jump racing in Australia. Darren had a huge flat yard, I was never that heavy, so I only had to get my weight down a little to be able to ride on the flat. That provided more opportunities. It was slow progress. Jump jockeys wouldn’t be as respected here as they are at home. It took a while for owners to be positive about you riding the horses and to want you to ride them. When I started out first I was the Irish jump jockey trying to get rides on the flat. It took a good while to build up a relationship with different owners and trainers so they looked at you as a flat jockey. My first couple of Group 1s came in the South Australia Derby for Darren and they were great but to win two at the Melbourne Cup Carnival last November was something else. There were 90,000 people in Flemington when I won the Victoria Derby on Extra Brut. The Legacy Stakes in Sydney was the same day as Winx’s last race and the final day of the championships. There was a sellout crowd. To be winning on those days, it’s like winning at Royal Ascot or as I said at Melbourne because it was big jumps races I dreamed of winning, it’s like winning at Cheltenham. As is well known now, Darren has begun a big suspension. I had become reliant on him, hadn’t needed to work for anyone else but since he has gone, I have had to get myself out there a bit and get around to different trainers. A lot of the relationships I created with owners have continued as the horses moved to different trainers and Kenedna is an example of that. I had ridden her all through her three -year-old career at Darren’s. When you reach Group 1 level you want to try and stay there. I still ride in a few races over jumps but I’m fairly selective now. I have a few rides at the Warnambool Carnival but you don’t really want to be risking injury. I will be back home in Cork in July as I try to be every year but for the foreseeable future, I will continue riding in Australia. I can’t see myself coming back home to ride, not on a full-time basis anyway. Things are just going so well, I have built up a good bank of contacts. It isn’t where I thought I would be but it is a level every jockey wants to be at. I just hope I can keep it going now. https://www.irishracing.com/blog-item?headline=Johnny-Allen&prid=200056&fbclid=IwAR0bUq3JcV6EAgYlBo8HVAvavgqQlljFQe8p6HCm-izMJdd03bE4gN7NfhU Not hyperlinked - copy/paste |
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Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
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Xavier
Champion Joined: 27 Jul 2016 Location: Melbourne Status: Offline Points: 3660 |
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Billy Egan and Jamie Mott are also dual flat/jumps licensed - although they don’t take many jumps rides. Mainly just high weights and trials.
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Karl and Susan Kennedy are my heroes
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Xavier
Champion Joined: 27 Jul 2016 Location: Melbourne Status: Offline Points: 3660 |
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He said recently that he won’t be riding over the jumps much anymore.
Getting good support on the flat and it’s not worth the risk of injury He’s out suspended at the moment but is back for Warrnambool |
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Karl and Susan Kennedy are my heroes
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Lord Hybrow
Champion Joined: 05 Jul 2015 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 6683 |
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He’s gone missing over the jumps. Hasn’t taken any rides over the obstacles at The Bool on Tuesday.
The other dual flat-jumps jockey Clayton Douglas has taken jumps & flat rides on Tues |
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maccamax
Champion Joined: 18 Jun 2010 Status: Offline Points: 41473 |
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Allen will surely miss the Weir support . Good Rider.
A Boo Boo, The MV club balloting Trap For Fools out of the Cox Plate . The Horse had set a very fast pace in the Turnbull to Winx and beaten less than 2 L. He has a Win % of almost 40% and would have assured a truly run race . Could have Saved Waller using D'Argento as pacemaker. He has made their decision look ordinary since. |
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Magnolian Khan
Champion Joined: 23 Dec 2015 Location: SA Status: Offline Points: 8437 |
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Welcome back to the winners stall Johnny
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Xavier
Champion Joined: 27 Jul 2016 Location: Melbourne Status: Offline Points: 3660 |
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Back riding tomorrow, now working for Maher
Will ride Ringerdingding for Waller on Sat |
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Karl and Susan Kennedy are my heroes
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Xavier
Champion Joined: 27 Jul 2016 Location: Melbourne Status: Offline Points: 3660 |
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He is suspended. Nothing more, nothing less.
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Karl and Susan Kennedy are my heroes
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Nocturnal
Champion Joined: 26 Sep 2008 Location: at the 800 Status: Offline Points: 13667 |
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No wonder they make Irish jokes .. poor count is delusional
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The only problem with backing winners ? You never have enough on....
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Gay3
Moderator Group Joined: 19 Feb 2007 Location: Miners Rest Status: Offline Points: 52012 |
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'Nothing to worry about': Allen defends Mackinnon rideJohn Allen vehemently denies changing his riding action during Trap
For Fools' controversial Mackinnon Stakes win and will welcome any
questions from stewards about the race, claiming he has "nothing to
answer for".
The former Irish jumps jockey expressed "shock" at the raids on the stables of his biggest supporter Darren Weir and a subsequent four-year disqualification for the trainer after three jiggers were found in the master bedroom of his Ballarat property. There has been no suggestion Weir used the electronic shock apparatuses on any horses, but the police and stewards probes are ongoing. Social media users have engaged in baseless speculation that Allen might have made contact with the the neck of Trap For Fools, trained by Weir's Warrnambool-based assistant Jarrod McLean, during the Mackinnon Stakes. McLean is facing his own charge of possessing a jigger on his Yangery property, but will fight the allegation stressing the implement was kept to move cattle on his property. Asked about his ride on Trap For Fools in the Mackinnon Stakes, Allen told the Herald: "I've heard the rumours, but unfortunately that's just the way I ride. I don't think I changed my style particularly. I think they're trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.
"I've got nothing to worry about. They can ask me questions, but I don't believe I've got anything to answer for." Trap For Fools staved off all challengers in the $2 million race, leading from start to finish to cap a remarkable Melbourne Cup carnival for Allen. He also won the Victoria Derby on the Weir-trained Extra Brut. Racing Victoria refuse to confirm if they are looking into any races involving Weir or McLean horses from the spring carnival or prior to that, but the Herald revealed last week that the Grand National Hurdle was of high interest to investigators. The well-backed McLean-trained Cougar Express downed the two favourites, which included a drifting Weir runner ridden by Allen. Stewards questioned the tactics Allen used in the race after the event. Allen has enjoyed a stunning rise thanks to his union with Weir, who has previously lavished praise on the jockey as "one of the best horsemen" he has known. Allen has racked up four group 1 wins since reducing his weight to ride as a professional flat jockey. But he faces his biggest challenge to continue his career without Weir's backing, with horses trained by the five-time Melbourne premiership winner and ridden by Allen amassing almost $5 million in prizemoney this season. Allen has already had 360 rides for Weir in 2018-19. Dan O'Sullivan has been Allen's next biggest supporter with just seven mounts. "I obviously rode a lot for Darren, but I'll just have to get myself out there a bit more," said Allen, who will miss Saturday's Orr Stakes meeting and return from a careless riding suspension next week. "I've got good connections with owners through my association with Darren, and I'm hoping they stick by me. I probably just have to get myself around a bit more and keep working hard." Trap For Fools will have his first start since finishing midfield in Perth's Kingston Town Classic when he contests the Carlyon Cup at Caulfield. The horse was a lightning rod for controversy during the spring carnival. He was withdrawn from the group 3 Coongy Cup on Caulfield Cup day over concerns as to where the gelding had been stabled in the lead-up to the race. He was then excluded from the Cox Plate by the Moonee Valley Racing Club committee on the basis that his form wasn't worthy of a spot in the elite field. He then ran second in the Moonee Valley Cup before winning the Mackinnon Stakes on the final day of the Flemington carnival. |
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Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
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Passing Through
Champion Joined: 09 Jan 2013 Location: At home Status: Offline Points: 79532 |
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No rides booked tomorrow or Tuesday
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Passing Through
Champion Joined: 09 Jan 2013 Location: At home Status: Offline Points: 79532 |
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Lord Hybrow
Champion Joined: 05 Jul 2015 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 6683 |
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Didn’t he get suspended for careless riding a few weeks ago? Not sure when suspension ends?
Will be interesting if he continues to get metropolitan flat rides into the future after DKW’s demise. Jumps season kicks of mid-March, so I’m sure he’ll still get plenty of rides there. |
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acacia alba
Champion Joined: 30 Oct 2010 Location: Hunter Valley Status: Offline Points: 41524 |
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animals before people.
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Einstein
Champion Joined: 21 Dec 2015 Status: Offline Points: 1290 |
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djebel
Premium Joined: 07 Mar 2007 Status: Offline Points: 53960 |
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?????
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reductio ad absurdum
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linghi11
Champion Joined: 17 Apr 2013 Status: Offline Points: 7497 |
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Did Johnny run away?
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to the victor
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adolphus twirk
Champion Joined: 20 Feb 2007 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1442 |
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Does Australia have an extradition treaty with Ireland?
Edited by Gay3 - 26 May 2019 at 4:55pm |
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