Homeless to Stardom For Queensland Jockey

Queensland's boom apprentice jockey Kyle Wilson-Taylor told racingqueensland.com.au that racing has been his saviour. The 21 YO jockey was raised in Melbourne but ended up in provincial Queensland after a series of difficult events. "There was a family breakdown and to cut a long story short we basically became homeless," Wilson-Taylor said. "We were living mate's house to mate's house, couch to couch, it was not the best life. I could have kept going down that road and would have eventually been in a bad place. I have now chased the dream I have, and it has paid off. There is no back up plan, racing is my life." Wilson-Taylor is apprenticed to trainer Lindsay Hatch, and has ridden 120 winners since his first ride in 2018. He is this season's third highest ranked provincial jockey and has recently been granted a metropolitan licence. "Hopefully in the next few weeks we can kick-off in the metropolitan area, I will not be getting ahead of myself, I will be taking it slow, but it is really something I am looking forward to," he said. "That is a credit to my boss Lindsay Hatch; I would love to be riding in town, but many apprentices make the mistake of going too early and that is something I do not want to do. I think I am ready for metro riding now and there is always room for improvement in those things. Lindsay has had a lot of good apprentices and is a great boss for me, he pulls me into line when I need it - I can get the clip over the ear at times - but also the encouragement as well." Wilson-Taylor rode a treble of winners recently at Toowoomba on Rhyme Time (Poet's Voice-Ailish, by Danehill Dancer), No Innuedo (Trusting-Dananova, by Snippetson), and Better Ethics (Better Than Ready-Ethical, by Pins).