Nick Heywood claimed 5 winners on Saturday at Newcastle.
Nick Heywood’s grandfather, Duke Heywood said, “I’m over the moon for him, he just kept winning, I saw his first, second and third wins, which were all in a row, before I went to your wedding. After the wedding ceremony most of the guests headed to the Binalong Pub before the reception started. I walked in the door and Patto said ‘He just rode another winner’ making it 4 wins for the day. He was on fire.”
Nick’s grandfather Duke Heywood, is very proud of his grandson.
Heywood managed 5 wins over the course of the Newcastle meeting from his 8 rides. His first 3 wins came in the first 3 races. In Race 4, he came home in 3rd place, before a 2nd place in Race 5. Race 6 saw him claim another win before a 6th place in Race 7. In Race 8 he claimed yet another win by leading all the way over 1400 metres, on the 3 year old gelding, Fratellino. Heywood’s most impressive ride probably came in the 6th Race when he guided Paris For Me from the back of the field over the 1200 metre race with the caller saying “He’s airborne today Nick Heywood.”
The fun continued at the Stadtmiller wedding reception where both Duke and Nick’s grandmother Trish Heywood, watched their grandson’s wins over and over again. Nick’s record for Newcastle on Saturday was 5 wins, a 2nd, a 3rd and a 6th placing from 8 starts. May has been a great month for Heywood with 14 wins, 9 2nd placings and 5 3rd placings, meaning he has now won as many races as he has placed in for the month, which is an amazing feat.
Duke said “Nick said if he was going to get a win at Newcastle he would give me a little salute after the post, but I didn’t think he would get 5. I’m over the moon for him, it made my day, to have the kid do that it was just great. I rang him from the wedding and he said ‘did you get my little wave?’ and I said ‘I did,’ He waited until the last race to do it.”
Duke said “Nick went in to the day at Newcastle with a sore ankle after he hit the gate jumping a horse out on Friday morning. He could barely walk on it and was in a bit of pain. I said how are you going to get to Newcastle? and he said ‘I’ve gotta get there.’ so I said pack it in ice and see if you can get the swelling down. After the 5 wins I said you should hurt your leg every week. It shows how tough he is. If he falls off a horse in the middle of a race he walks off behind the field, he doesn’t wait for the ambulance to turn up. He is a really good kid.”
Duke said “He hadn’t done a lot of riding growing up, he always had a horse but he had a motorbike too. Being a little fella he would get on the motorbike. He would get on the horse in the round yard and trot around but then he would jump on the motorbike again. When he went away to college he would go out to Peter Clancy’s stable and help out. He came home one weekend to Young and Fonz was working two horses at the Young Racetrack. Nick went with him. Fonz saddled one up not thinking Nick wanted to ride, but Nick said ‘what are you gunna do with the other one?’ Fonz said ‘I’ll ride him next.’ Nick said ‘put a saddle on him and ill go with you.’ He’s never looked back from that day, he’s not scared of anything, he can ride anything and he started his apprenticeship with Clancy. He has produced some great jockeys over the years.”
Duke said if and when he finishes up riding he will probably bulk up a bit and play Rugby League which is his first love. The only thing Duke got upset about over the wins was when some of the race callers claimed him as a Wagga boy.
He said “We can’t have that going on, he is Harden through and through.” At 21 years of age, Nick finishes up around November and he only has a few more wins in town before he drops down in the weight he can claim against the older jockeys.
Duke said “Claiming weight is a big advantage to all apprentices” but said he takes nothing away from his efforts. In fact, “Matty Dale was happy to have him on heavier because he knows he is a good jockey.” Duke said “He has a really good manager and has been riding for some of the top trainers” including: Godolphin, Snowden, Gerald Ryan, the Portellies and Kim Waugh, wife of Australian Cricketer Mark Waugh, as well as Ron Quinton.
Duke said “I would like to see him continue, he may take up a trainer’s licence if he gets a bit heavier or he might have a season as an amateur.”
Weight will continue to be an issue for Nick as it is with all jockeys. Duke, who is 6 foot one and weighed in at 14 and a half stone when playing Rugby League isn’t very small. Duke said “His father Fonz is 6 foot and had to ‘waste’ and could only manage a short lived amateur career before turning to training. He was starving himself something terrible to keep the weight off. He had some winners but it was too hard.
Nick is not quite as tall and his legs are definitely Heywood legs. He was riding at 54 but they lifted him to 55 which he finds easier.”
Whatever Nick does in the future, he is definitely in a purple patch at the moment, after riding his first city double only the week before at Rosehill, when he guided Quick Feet to victory over 1400 metres and Hay Now over 1500 metres. Well done Nick.
Duke, continue to make sure they know the lad is from Harden not Wagga.
