Big Day for Grubby with Cluden Double

The ever redoubtable Nathan “Grubby” Day has done his best to cover every inch of the State in his quest to ride winners.

For most of the past decade the veteran jockey has spent more time on the road than in his home town of Brisbane, clocking up winners from the coast to the dusty outback.

The 51-year-old, currently based in Cairns, admits he’s closer to the end of his career than the start, but in a world where statistics and strike rates mean everything he’s still coming up with the goods.

He landed a winning double at Cluden Park on Thursday – aboard Northernontap for Lindsay Hatch and Reemyya for Janel Ryan - to continue another successful comeback from injury.

This time around he was out for eight months for a shoulder reconstruction.

“I fell from a horse called Stats. There’s never a good time but it stopped me in my tracks when I was heading for a big season tally,” Day said.

“That season I was the top guy for the whole time frame. I was on top of the provincial ladder for something like six months.

“I was on track to ride a hundred plus.

“Every jockey wants to ride a hundred winners. The good jockeys ride 100 and having that as your target makes you ride the whole season.

“In recent rimes I’ ve ridden almost all of my winners from Townsville north.

“I went up to Cairns for a month and I’ve been there two and a half years.

“The lifestyle is so good and it fitted in pretty well.

“But the two regional airlines went broke up there and it became pretty hard for me to get around.

“I want to ride more in Mackay and Rocky and this is my next dilemma to sort out.  

Day has his weight down to 55kg and has been quick to get back into winning form since returning.

Already this season he has landed 26 winners from 116 rides at an impressive 22 per cent.

And, typically for Day, he hasn’t been worried about heading bush to get the rides.

Already with a career tally of 1105 winners to his name, Day said he has no plans of easing up.

“My weight’s coming down and I can get down to 54kg but it’s a bit harder these days. I still love riding. As I’ve said the day the barriers open and I don’t get a thrill I’ll give it away.

“I’m having a good run, averaging about two winners a week which is good,” Day said.

“I was super confident Reemyya could win and Northernontap had a lovely run and things broke right for us.

“Hopefully the run can continue.”

Day jetted out of Townsville on Thursday night to Brisbane where he will ride Choir Boy for Janel and Ron Ryan in Saturday’s Country Cups Challenge Final (1630m) at Doomben.

Townsville’s leading trainer Georgie Holt continued a strong run of form for the stable with a winning double on Thursday.

She scored with promising three-year-old Tambo’s Justice and the lightly raced Caretaker.

The Townsville Turf Club honoured Errol Sewell’s lifetime contribution to racing in the city with honorary life membership.

Mr Sewell was a dominant figure in the Townsville training ranks in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, during which time he won 15 straight Cluden premierships.