Flashback Friday-Scott Seamer
Scott Seamer has left his mark on the New Zealand Derby.
The Australian jockey was unbeaten from two rides in the Ellerslie classic and is the only winning jockey to attend the Derby presentation in a wheelchair.
His wheelchair appearance – which will always be suitable material for a racing trivia quiz - followed his 2009 Derby victory on Coniston Bluebird.
Seamer was dislodged from Coniston Bluebird while posing for a photo in the birdcage and suffered a broken heel. “I put my hands in the air for the photo and the horse took fright,” Seamer recalled in the leadup to the 2019 Derby, which will be run at Ellerslie this weekend. “I managed to break the fall with my hands but my foot caught a rail on the way down.”
Seamer had to be carried to the scales to weigh-in and was then put in a wheelchair for the presentation, before heading to hospital for treatment.
However, the pain was eased by the knowledge that he had just won what was then the richest thoroughbred race run in New Zealand. The NZ Derby had a stake of $2.2 million for three years from 2009.
The stake was $350,000 when Seamer won the race on Leica Guv, on Boxing Day 2001.
Seamer’s extraordinary career will always be defined by his partnership with the Caulfield and Melbourne Cup heroine Ethereal, but his two NZ Derby victories rank highly.
Leica Guv’s win was his first Group I success outside Australia and Coniston Bluebird was his last Group I winner. “I’m old school and I liked to win the classics. The Derbies and the Oaks are the races you want to win and to win a Derby in another country was a big thing for me.”
Seamer was fortunate to get the mount on Leica Guv. Gary Grylls had won two Group II races on Leica Guv, including the Avondale Guineas, but was also the regular rider of Waikato Guineas winner Athens and opted for the latter for the Derby.
“I was the flavour of the month at the time and got the ride after Gary turned it down,” Seamer said. Grylls’ judgement wasn’t far away, with Athens running second, but three lengths away from Leica Guv, who had made most of the pace.
“He [Leica Guv] was a lovely little horse but he was a keen-goer,” Seamer said. “I wanted to slot him in fifth or sixth, but he had other ideas. He got hold of the bit and I had to let him work up the hill to get to the lead, so it was a really good run.”
Seamer had been invited to ride at the 20001 Christmas carnival at Ellerslie after his stunning success with Ethereal and company at the Melbourne spring carnival and it was more of the same at Ellerslie.
There was no lack of opposition at the Ellerslie carnival, with Lance O’Sullivan, Opie Bosson, Peter Johnson, Michael Coleman, Noel Harris, Grant Cooksley, David Walsh, Jim Collett, Leith Innes and Vinnie Colgan among those riding, but Seamer dominated the three-day meeting.
He had seven wins and six seconds from 18 mounts, with his wins including the Derby and the Auckland Cup on Maguire. He also won the Group III King’s Plate and ran second in the Group I Railway.
Coniston Bluebird was trained in New South Wales by Bede Murray and Seamer had never ridden the horse till the pair combined to run third in the Championships Stakes at Ellerslie, a fortnight before the Derby. “I ran into Bede at a trials meeting on the Gold Coast and he told me he was taking a horse to the New Zealand Derby and offered me the ride.
“Coniston Bluebird never won another race after the Derby. It was a hard-fought win [at Ellerslie] and he put his nose down at the right time.” Several of those who finished behind Coniston Bluebird went on to become group winners, but Coniston Bluebird was unable to replicate his Derby form. He had another 17 starts but never finished closer than fifth.
Seamer, who had his last raceday mount in December 2011, had a unique career as a jockey. He spent the first half of his career riding in the country and at bush meetings in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales and was close to 30 before he tried his luck in Brisbane.
He steadily improved his returns over the next four years, though still living about 200km away from Brisbane, at Ballina, near Byron Bay, and won the 2001 Brisbane premiership.
However, till he teamed up with Ethereal at the 2001 Queensland winter carnival, he had a limited profile outside Queensland. Ethereal was trained at Cambridge by Sheila Laxon and owned by Peter and Philip Vela and was a chance mount for Seamer.
Seamer’s manager, Trevor Lansky, also managed Jim Byrne, another leading Brisbane rider, and the Ethereal camp were keen for Byrne to ride Ethereal in the Doomben Roses. However, Byrne was unavailable and Lansky was able to convince them that Seamer would be a suitable alternative.
Ethereal won the Listed Doomben Roses and then gave Seamer his first Group I winner when winning the Queensland Oaks by a nose. “I was happy just to have won a Group I race. I never rode in the city till I was around 28 or 29.
“At that stage, to have won any more Group I races would have been like a dream. But it was a big boost and it did make me hungry to get more.”
The Oaks was the beginning of an extraordinary run for Seamer who over the next year was to be the dominant Group I rider in Australia and New Zealand. The jockey who was a virtual unknown in Sydney and Melbourne went on a Group I rampage, winning 11 Group I races in the 2001-02 season, from just 39 attempts, a winning strike rate of 28 percent.
In less than 12 months, he ticked off wins in races that would appear on the bucket list of nearly every Australian jockey. Seamer’s tally that season included the Caulfield Cup, Melbourne Cup, Golden Slipper, Mackinnon Stakes, Australian Guineas and The BMW, in each case at his first ride in the race.
He was equally effective in New Zealand that term, winning the NZ Derby, Auckland Cup, New Zealand Oaks and Whakanui (Herbie Dyke) Stakes.
The Caulfield Cup, Melbourne Cup and Golden Slipper comprise three legs of the Australian Grand Slam, the other leg being the Cox Plate. Only seven riders have won all four races but Seamer didn’t get a chance to join them. “I never got a Cox Plate ride.”
Seamer won the Australian Derby and Queensland Derby the following season and an Epsom Handicap the year after. He also finished second in the 2003 Melbourne Cup, on She’s Archie.
Following his freakish season, he won at least one Group I race in six of the next seven seasons and recorded 22 Group I wins in total. However, injuries affected his opportunities and eventually ended his career.
He suffered a crushed vertebra in a fall in Hong Kong and his other injuries included a couple of broken shoulders and a broken wrist. He made the decision to retire after a race fall at Doomben. “I was badly concussed, and my back wasn’t the same after the fall. It was time to finish.”
Seamer, now 50, was a natural lightweight – he rode Ethereal at 50kg in the Caulfield Cup and at 52kg in the Melbourne Cup – and still weighs just 52kg.
He now has 10 broodmares at his property at Ballina and has ambitions to breed a Group I winner. “I still love working with horses.”
