ANDREW MALLYON - 'THE MOVE TO QUEENSLAND IS THE BEST THING I COULD EVER HAVE DONE!'

By Graham Potter with Andrew Mallyon | Thursday, November 28, 2019

Andrew Mallyon has adopted an unassuming role since relocating to Queensland with the rider being acutely aware of the fact that, apart from the opportunity provided by the Kris Lees stable, he has had to earn his stripes virtually from scratch in the Sunshine State. Mallyon’s immediate back story is one of frustrating times and difficult decisions but it ultimately translates into a story of a man taking a huge leap of faith on the wings of the unconditional love and support of his family and a generous act from an established trainer. Nobody said any life-changing decision would be easy and, while this stage of Mallyon’s career is still very much a work in progress, the chances are that the weekend of November 24 and 25 might have just provided a watershed moment which will add impetus to his rate of progress. HRO’s Graham Potter spoke to Andrew Mallyon about how he has been tested in recent times and why his three winners over the weekend meant so much to him. Here, Andrew Mallyon takes up the story.

The riding landscape in Victoria is quite demanding. It’s every day. I did well in Victoria … don’t get me wrong. I always had the mindset to be quite a hard worker, which I was for the last fifteen years in Melbourne, but where I was sitting in the pecking order, to get those rides for the leading stables, I had to go every day and ride those horses. That was fine and I enjoyed it up to a point.

I have a couple of kids now though. My oldest is nearly five and over the last twelve months I just found myself missing out on a lot … not seeing my kids. You know you could go a couple of days without seeing them and you are living in the same house. You’d be off to the races before they got up and you’d be home after they went to bed so, eventually, without me knowing it, it probably started eating me alive a little bit.

In the last six to twelve months … even though I was doing well … I probably wasn’t enjoying it as much as I should. It is the type of job you really need to enjoy to keep going. I also have a bit of a hip niggle. I had surgery on it. I manage it well … but riding everyday can flare it up. It certainly doesn’t help it.

That combination of factors all started building up gradually and so I took a month off. I went away to America with a mate. We drove across California … camping and things like that. I felt a lot better after that and I thought I was ready to go back to life as a jockey back in Melbourne.

I went back and was only about a month in when I thought the trip away hasn’t helped … it was a bit like putting a band-aid on a bullet hole. Over the years you do have times when you question why you are doing what you do and sometimes say you are not going to do this anymore, but most times you are never fair dinkum about it.

This time I was seriously contemplating maybe doing something else even though I love riding.

Then, one day I was driving home from the races and my sister rang me. She said, ‘how are you going?’ I said, ‘not flash … not good’ and she said, ‘why don’t you try going somewhere else?’

I thought where do I go. I don’t know anything else. I had ridden in Adelaide. It’s nice but I couldn’t picture myself there. She mentioned coming to Sydney and I thought that would probably be just as hard as Melbourne and I’d have the same problem and then she said, ‘why don’t you go to Queensland?’

I said I love going to Queensland for holidays but I don’t know anybody there. It would a hard place to break in to. I said I would entertain the idea but I don’t know where to go and so I’d just have to keep doing what I am doing or do something else.

That was the end of that conversation. She left it at that … until about a week later she called me again and she asked me to come around to mum and dad’s house at Flemington. So, I drove around the corner and went there.

I came in and they were all sitting at a table and I asked ‘what’s going on?’

They said they have got a proposition for me … and I said, ‘oh, is James Macdonald looking for a new valet?’ Anyway, my sister said, ‘would you go to Queensland and ride for Kris Lees?’

I said … ‘for Kris Lees I would go tomorrow … but I don’t know Kris Lees and he doesn’t know me. Why would he do that?’

She slipped the phone across the table. She said, ‘ring him.’

I went, ‘aww, that’s a bit forward.’ But, anyway, I rang him up and after about thirty seconds on the phone to him I was ready to get on the plane. Kris was really good. He understood where I was coming from and what I was going through.

Kris has backed me one hundred percent. There were no expectations from either of us. He said I should come up and have a try. He said I would be riding around the coast and around the rivers and sometimes in town … and he said I should just see how I like it. There was no pressure.

I was now pretty keen to go to Queensland but I still had to think of my wife and two kids first and whether they would be happy to move. They fully supported it.

So, I came to Queensland. I was on my own for the first two months and that was very hard. Initially I thought walking into a new stable would also be a bit daunting … the horses are at Mel Egglestons … but everybody at the stable was fantastic.

It was a really big leap for me. I was new in Queensland … I had to learn so many things … and there were times when I had to stay strong, but everybody was fantastic and just so accommodating and that made a tough move easier for me.

Things got even better when my family arrived to join me. They have been here for the last three or four weeks and I haven’t looked back.

Saturday was a big relief for me … getting a Listed race result for Kris so quickly and such a good result.

I didn’t do any media up here. I sort of snuck up here. I know you’ve got to earn your way in.

Kris obvious has been brilliant to me. My manager Sam Fields has also been fantastic. He has pushed me and really pushed a product that no one really knew much about. That’s not a very easy task so I was probably a challenge for him.

So, it hasn’t just been me. There have been a lot of people in the back-story which got me to Saturday … from my family who drove this whole matter, to my immediate family supporting the move, to Kris Lees obviously and all of his staff. to all of those who have welcomed me so nicely and offered me assistance since I have moved to Queensland.

I am very grateful for the opportunity and very happy to have repaid everybody just a little bit with my double on Saturday. It's a big day.

It was great to get a feature race for Kris and it also meant a lot to get a win for Kacy (Fogden - her first metropolitan win). She didn’t know me at all. I lobbed at Beaudesert one day and she gave me a couple of jumps-outs … so that’s is how we started.

It means a lot to get a result for people who backed you when nobody really knew you.

As for the move itself. It is the best thing I could ever have done. I’m really pleased.

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