By his own admission, Jason Collett was slow out of the boxes this season but he has been making up for lost time, his win aboard Secret Glamour at Rosehill his eleventh from his past 38 rides.
After booting home just four winners in the opening three months of the racing term, the top jockey has found his groove, his victory aboard Secret Glamour in Saturday’s Schweppes Handicap (1800m) rocketing him to equal ninth on the Sydney jockeys’ premiership.
Collett, who finished third behind only James Mcdonald and Hugh Bowman in last year’s title race, started his form flurry on November 11 and since then his victories have included a winning treble at Newcastle’s The Hunter meeting, a double on Gong day at Kembla Grange and another double at the Kensington twilight meeting on Friday.
“I’ve ridden eight winners in the last two-and-a-half weeks, but I only rode four winners in the first three months of the season,” Collett said.
“It’s racing, there are times when you have those runs.”
Collett rode a typically patient race aboard Secret Glamour ($5), biding his time at the back of the field after she was slow to jump before switching her to the outside in the straight and steaming home out wide to score.
She got there by a short neck over Rosovo ($5) with Whangaehu ($4.60 fav) another half-neck away.
Collett married his long-time partner, trainer Clare Cunningham on Monday, but the couple has no plans to head off on a honeymoon with Collett keen to build on his momentum and continue riding through the summer.
“I had a few breaks during the year. We didn’t really feel like we needed a holiday,” Collett said.
“I had a trip to England for the Shergar Cup, I also broke a collarbone earlier this year and missed six weeks.”