Derby lures Bowman, Schiller, Wilson-Taylor

Big-race jockey Hugh Bowman will be back in town in search of more Singapore Derby glory on July 21.

The four-time Sydney champion jockey will not be alone, as he is coming over with two fellow Australians in tow – Tyler Schiller and Kyle Wilson-Taylor.

While the Hong Kong-based Bowman has been a regular Kranji one-day visitor since 2013, the other two young up-and-comers will be at their first Singapore stint. The trio were all granted a one-day licence just for the Derby meeting.

Bowman just celebrated his 44th birthday with a double at the Hong Kong season finale at Sha Tin on July 14. The second win on Patch Of Theta in the very last race of the 2023/2024 campaign edged his tally to 69 winners while cementing his third place, albeit a whopping 61 winners behind seven-time champion jockey Zac Purton.

While the 2¼-length romp itself was easy, it handed Francis Lui a riveting last-gasp first victory in the Hong Kong trainer’s honours, trumping long-term leader Pierre Ng by one win.

The Asian jurisdiction goes into its yearly two-month holidays, but Bowman is putting his on hold by one week.

A winner of more than 2,400 races in 27 years, including over 100 at Group 1 level, Bowman has been hired by trainer Tim Fitzsimmons to ride Lightning Strike in the Group 1 Singapore Derby (1,800m), a feature race he notched in 2023 aboard Golden Monkey, from the same yard.

That day, former Australian super mare Winx’s regular patrner also won aboard City Gold Star (now known as Boss Phan) to take his overall Kranji tally to three wins.

At his last visit to Singapore, the 2017 Longines World’s Best Jockey finished second aboard the Fitzsimmons-trained Golden Monkey in the Group 1 Lion City Cup (1,200m) on Aug 27, 2023.

Booked on the Steven Burridge-trained Galaxy Bar, Schiller, 25, figures among Sydney’s most promising jockeys.

Though his family is steeped in harness racing in New South Wales, the young man eschewed that career path for thoroughbred racing instead.

After overcoming a serious car injury early in his apprenticeship, Schiller bounced back and joined an elite band of jockeys who rode a winner at his very first ride, Little Capri at Hillston on April 6, 2019.

He then went on an upward spiral, landing the Sydney champion apprentice jockey title in the 2021/2022 season. The next season, he won his first Group 1 race aboard Mariamia in The Galaxy on March 18, 2023.

All up, Schiller, who will be at his first overseas stint, has booted home in excess of 440 winners, and sits in fourth place on the Sydney log on 64 winners. He goes to scale at 52kg.

Wilson-Taylor, 24, will also partner another outsider in the Singapore Derby, the Jason Ong-trained Roda Robot.

He was actually originally booked on another Ong entry, Great Warrior, but the stable then elected to switch him to the softer Class 4 race over 1,800m, in which he will be ridden by Manoel Nunes.

Unlike Schiller, the Victorian Wilson-Taylor did not hail from a horsey family. It is well-documented that his background is one of strife as a homeless teenager.

He managed to get off the Melbourne back alleys to become one of Queensland’s most sought-after jockeys.

On his grandfather’s advice to follow a career as a jockey because of his slight stature, Wilson-Taylor first cut his teeth as an apprentice at Coffs Harbour.

Just like Schiller, he got off to a flier at his riding debut, on one (Mister Smartee) of his first three rides at Port Macquarie on July 14, 2018.

It was only when he moved upstate to Queensland trainer Lindsay Hatch that his meteoric rise began.

He was crowned Brisbane champion apprentice in the 2021/2022 season and graduated to the seniors’ rank in March 2023.

A first Group 1 success came on Palaisipan in the Tattersall’s Tiara at Eagle Farm on June 24.

Singapore will be only his second offshore venture. In March, he crossed the Tasman Sea to New Zealand where he won the Group 2 Wellington Guineas on Grail Seeker at Trentham.

Currently licensed by Racing Queensland, Wilson-Taylor sits in 10th place on 27 wins on the Queensland Metropolitan jockeys’ premiership. He goes to scale at 54kg.

manyan@sph.com.sg