KINGSTON, Jamaica - Shane Ellis is already one of the most successful jockeys to parade his skills at Caymanas Park, and his career recently hit new heights when he notched his 1,300th winner.
The two-time champion reached the milestone aboard the Alford Brown-conditioned Yellowstone, who romped a three-year-old Maiden Special Weight event by eight and a half lengths over five and a half furlongs (1,100 metres) on Saturday, April 23. Yellowstone won ahead of Freedom Street (Raddesh Roman) and Code of Conduct (Dane Dawkins) in a moderate 1:08.1, behind splits of 23.3 and 46.4 seconds.
Ellis joins a select band, as only Trevor Simpson and Winston Griffiths have ridden over 1,300 wins in their local racing careers. Griffiths is the all-time leader with 1,664 wins, while Simpson has 1,491.
Other riders in the 1,000-win club are Charles Hussey, Dane Nelson, Omar Walker, Andrew Ramgeet, and Emilio Rodriquez.
Ellis, who has been riding since 1996 and has contributed significantly to the profession of horse racing with his riding skills, was delighted with the achievement.
“This one is special because, of course, 1,300 represents quite a few winners and not many jockeys can win that number of races right now. So, it’s nice to tick off another milestone and I am happy and thankful that I was able to get here in good health,” Ellis said after his achievement.
Despite nearing his 49th birthday, the son of former champion jockey Winston Ellis, is showing no signs of slowing down either and, by all indications, the hunt for 1,400 or more winners is well and truly on.
“Last year wasn’t a good one for me but it’s one of those things that happen in racing, I always knew that once I have life and I’m healthy I could always bounce back to form,” Ellis, more popular known as “The Canterman” to racing enthusiasts, said.
“As you can see my vein of form so far this year is okay, it could be better but I can’t complain. I am still feeling fresh, my body feels good and so the aim is to just keep going,” he added.
With 13 wins under his belt so far is 2022, Ellis, who is currently sixth in the jockeys’ standings, would have rued not adding to his tally after the win aboard Yellowstone, as did not ride for the rest of the day.
“Right now, the focus is on getting my weight down as low as possible. So, it’s all about putting in the hard work from here and hopefully everything will fall into place afterwards,” he noted.
Though no stranger to winning big races, Ellis pointed out that securing win in the big races including the Classic are also high on his agenda this season.
“My goal is to win more races and try winning more Classics. That’s why we put in the hard work at the end of the day, so we’ll see what happens,” Ellis ended.
