• Berwick Gazette
• Pakenham Gazette

By Brad Kingsbury

11th April 2007 02:19:17 PM

Bodey and his father Kevin discuss tactics before his ride on familyowned and trained galloper Saidin at Balnarring on Monday.

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THE difference between star Victorian jockeys Adam Bodey and Damien Oliver is about 10 kilograms in weight and a significant number of zeros on the end of their career prize money tallies.

Apart from that, the similarities are remarkable.

Both are 34 years old, both are supreme horsemen at the top of their trade and, at Monday’s final picnic race meeting for the season, Pakenhambased Bodey joined Oliver in having won seven Victorian jockey’s premierships, albeit in different genres of the sport.

The champion amateur hoop was his usual humble and relaxed self after completing the remarkable feat of seven consecutive titles, and admitted that he knew about Oliver’s record and had set that as a motivational goal at the start of this season.

“I love the way he goes about riding, his attitude and how he doesn’t take his success for granted,” Bodey said.

“I knew he had won seven premierships and thought that to achieve something like that would be a nice achievement.

“I didn’t set out to win this many premierships and I never thought I would, but it’s something to look back on a bit, I suppose.”

The enormity of Bodey’s achievement should not be underestimated by that massive understatement.

He has consistently outridden his counterparts on the picnic racing circuit and this season finished with 45 winners from only 26 meetings after incurring two suspensions – his first for eight years – and several event cancellations due to the weather.

“I wanted to ride 50 winners (this season) but at this time last year I had ridden at 37 meetings and this year I have only ridden at 26, so my strike rate is actually better – in fact I think its my best,” Bodey said.

Racing was in Bodey’s blood, according to his father Kevin, a former apprentice jockey, but his amazing success was due to his dedication and hard work.

“He was brought up with horses and (his mother) Cathy took him to Pony Club from the time he was 14,” Kevin said.

“He was club champion there until he was 21 so it was no surprise that he ended up in the saddle.

“He’s very, very dedicated and he’s worked hard to achieve what he has.

“I didn’t think he was going to go on like he has, especially when he first started.

“They were running off the track and he didn’t deal with it that well, but he just kept working on it and learnt how to sit on a horse properly.”

Adam Bodey said the continual wasting to make the required weight was taking its toll, but he would not put a time limit on his career because he still enjoyed riding.

“I didn’t know how I’d go at the start because I was so ordinary at it to begin with,” he chuckled.

“Then I started to do well and that made it a lot more fun.

“It gets harder as you get older. I love riding but I absolutely detest the wasting and at this stage of the year I detest it more than ever.

“It happens to me every year when I get to the last month of the season.

“It will get to the point one day when I just go ‘that’s it’ and I will retire.

Bodey reserved special acknowledgment for his wife Kristi, who he credits with much of his success.

“She’s the one that helps keep me motivated and she’s into racing herself so that also helps,” he said.

“She loves racing and when I start to mentally break she keeps me on my game.

“Kristi’s been with me and supported me from day one and I couldn’t have done what I have without her.”

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