Bailey Kinninmont getting the right starts in racing
Son of former Singapore Turf Club starter all set for first ride at Flemington on July 18
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Victorian apprentice jockey Bailey Kinninmont recording his first metropolitan win, aboard Silent Shares at Sandown on July 15.
PHOTO: RACING PHOTOS
Michael Lee
Singapore racing fans may have spotted a familiar surname popping up on Melbourne race cards of late, Kinninmont.
The name might still not ring a bell to those who only focused on trainers or jockeys, specifically from the expatriate community, because Damien Kinninmont was one of the unsung heroes behind the scenes.
The former Perth jockey was the Singapore Turf Club’s head starter cum apprentice jockey mentor for many years until 2022, when he took up a role as Hong Kong Jockey Club’s racing control manager at Conghua Racecourse in Guangdong, China.
Meanwhile, one of his sons, Bailey, had followed in his footsteps and has been an apprentice jockey in Victoria in the last two years.
With a racing pedigree that also includes Simon Miller’s assistant trainer mother Kelly, the apple certainly did not fall far from the tree.
First indentured to Julien Welsh and then former Kranji trainer Mick Kent, the mature apprentice – he turns 28 on July 19 – has knocked in 44 wins, mostly around the provincial circuit at tracks as far apart as Ballarat, Sale, Moe and Bairnsdale, among others.
But a recent first city win on Silent Shares at a midweek metropolitan meeting in Sandown on July 15 (Race 4 on the Singapore Pools Melbourne race card) was the writing on the wall his turn to ride in the “Big Smoke” had arrived.
The well-deserved reward came this week with a first booking at Flemington, Melbourne’s headquarters and home to the Melbourne Cup.
Trainer Luke Oliver is giving him the leg-up on a horse he knows only in jumpouts, Lake Vostok, in the A$80,000 (S$72,000) RMBL Investments Rising Stars Final, a race among his peers, Victorian apprentices.
The Benchmark 78 race over 1,600m is slated as Race 7 at 11.15am Singapore time on the Singapore Pools Australia card on July 18.
It is only fitting it is Oliver who provided Kinninmont with the new milestone, given that the Cranbourne conditioner has been one of his staunchest supporters, having supplied him with one in every four of his winners.
“Mick Kent is my boss, but Luke is probably my biggest supporter,” said Kinninmont to Racing And Sports.
“He throws me on everything, and I ride a lot of work for him, so he’s almost a second boss and hopefully we can repay the faith.”
A five-year-old mare by Russian Revolution, Lake Vostok is at a 6-1 quote, third in the line of betting behind Madiyya (5-2) and Changing Colours (4-1), probably in light of her barrier 1 and consistent form.
She has always been thereabouts but punters probably remember mostly the second of her two career wins coming in the exact same race a year ago when ridden by Rose Hammond.
Kinninmont was happy with what he felt under the saddle during her trials leading up to her las-start seventh at Flemington on June 20, beaten less than four lengths by Stylish.
“She’s going great,” he said. “I’ve had a lot to do with her the whole way through but couldn’t ride her first-up as I couldn’t ride in town.
“But she’s definitely improved on the first-up run and I think she goes in with a real winning chance.
“I think she’s an open class mare, building through the grades, so she’s been unlucky not to have won a few more.”
A Lake Vostok win would be the perfect early birthday present to a weekend which was already special. Both parents, along with brother, and relatives fly into Melbourne to celebrate with him the next day.
“Dad is coming over from China, mum from Perth, brother, cousins, uncles,” he said.
“It’s my birthday on Sunday and that’s why they’re all coming over, but the race just so happens to be the day before, so that would be a nice present.”
