Sitting in the back row of the Trentham jockeys’ room, where all good apprentices were placed, a young Brent Thomson was tapped on the shoulder by the door attendant telling him there was an important person wanting to talk to him outside of the room. 

The likeable security officer lent over and whispered to Thomson that it was actually champion Australian trainer Colin Hayes who was wanting to chat. 

“I said to him, look I’m busy enough concentrating on riding a winner and you’re telling me these practical jokes – I don’t need it but whoever you’ve got lined up I’ll go and have a look because I haven’t got a ride in the next race,” he said. 

However, the old doorman was telling the truth.  Hayes was indeed there and put his hand out and shook the young apprentice's hand. 

“CS got straight to the point. He wanted me to be his Melbourne number one jockey – a job even I knew was the biggest gig in Australasia,” he said. 

However, Thomson’s arrival in Melbourne as a 19-year-old wasn’t smooth.  It took three weeks to ride a winner but he would go on to ride hundreds of winners during the stint – including four Cox Plates, two Caulfield Cups and dozens of Group events.   

Thomson joined an exodus by Kiwi jockeys to Australia in the 1970s – Bob Skelton, Brian Andrews, Gary Willetts and Midge Didham. By the time Jim Cassidy and Shane Dye arrived in the 80s, Thomson was off riding with great success in Europe and later Hong Kong. Yet the jockey branded J-Mac by the media is clearly the best ever horseman that Thomson has seen come to Australia. 

“Being a jockey, I am a hard marker but there are so many facets of James McDonald that point to him being a world class rider. J-Mac has got the complete kit but where I think he stands alone is his hands.  He was born with soft, special hands,” Thomson said. 

“I’ll give you an example, Verry Elleegant was pretty tricky to ride as a young horse. He got on her and within a few rides had her back doing anything he wanted.  And that’s probably taken her career to the position it’s in now as one of the best we’ve got.” 

Would he succeed in England? McDonald was in demand there in the summer of 2016 and another cameo in 2018 saw him post his first Royal Ascot success, even riding for the Queen. 

“If they knew he was coming he’d have a full book of good mounts.  Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had some great Kiwi jockeys here to eke out a living but this guy is different,” Thomson, these days an Australian-based consultant for New Zealand Bloodstock, said. 

As Thomson put it, there are jockeys that come along that are very good but in the case of J-Mac, he’s one in a generation.