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WORDS: MARK BRASSEL IMAGES: JANIAN McMILLAN

FORMER JOCKEY ELEANOR WESBTER-HAWES HAS RIDDEN HER FAIR SHARE OF SLOW GALLOPERS BUT THESE DAYS SHE CONSTANTLY GOES PAST THE POST TRAILING THE ENTIRE FIELD

Eleanor Webster-Hawes was a talented jockey plying her trade around the country tracks and on 105 occasions booted home the winner.

She’s even won races at 33 different tracks around Australia including winning doubles at Brewarrina, Lightning Ridge, Enngonia, Dubbo, Narromine and Wellington.

“Being in the ambulance and following the field around, I now appreciate how fast the horses go!”

But around eight years ago she started planning beyond her racing profession and opted for a change of career after receiving assistance funding from the Jockey’s Benefit Scheme.

Eleanor completed a Uni course and is now a part-qualified paramedic working for Ambulance NSW at Cowra in the Central Western region.

“I love the job, it’s fantastic,” Eleanor declared. “I’m still training but only months away from completing it.

“I’ve done three years full-time at Charles Sturt University, but it’s taken me eight years as I was trying to do it when I was riding.”

Eleanor even won an Executive Dean’s Award last December for excellent grades.

“I love going to work and the group I work with are a great bunch to be around.

“Being in the ambulance and following the field around, I now appreciate how fast the horses go! It doesn’t seem as fast when you’re riding them.

“At the moment there’s not a great deal of office work and we’re out most for most of the time although we do have to fill in case sheets.

“I always put my name down when there’s a race meeting coming up to work there. But it’s popular and they try and spread it around so everyone gets a chance to work at the races.”

Eleanor with Bathurst trainer Andrew Ryan and recent Orange winner Tithing, a daughter of Just Pay Up, who won just three races with Eleanor riding on each occasion

Eleanor, 39, was born in Springwood in the Blue Mountains and her connection to riding came from her Grandad who was a horseman, a rough rider and a farrier.

“I rode for Anne Marie-Ruttley at Cobbitty [near Camden] before getting my apprenticeship with Peter Nestor at Dubbo,” she said.

Eleanor also did a lot of riding trackwork and in races for the Ryan Family at Bathurst with the late Don Ryan, who passed away in 2021, and then son Andrew.

“Eleanor is a pretty smart girl who has done a lot of work to get where she is now and deserves a pat on the back,” Andrew Ryan said.

“I think she started her apprenticeship with Peter Nestor then came to Bathurst and finished the apprenticeship with Dad and me.

“She came out of her time and rode work for us for a few years and is a very good rider and we’ve had plenty of success.

“She’s a great person and is very popular – everyone around these parts thinks the world of her. Eleanor regularly travelled from Cowra to ride trackwork at Bathurst and most of our horses in races.”

Eleanor won six races on one of her favourites Somebody who was trained by the Ryan Family: “They have been great supporters and they’re like my own family,” she said.

“I do miss riding terribly; it’s weird but I love being around horses and love their smell,” Eleanor said.

Eleanor Webster-Hawes - is now loving her post-riding career as a paramedic

One of Eleanor’s biggest wins was aboard Cosmologist who won the 2018 Central Districts Country Championships at Mudgee when a $51 roughie (firming from $91).

“The day I won the Country Championships was amazing – I’ve never ridden in rain like it,” Eleanor recalled.

“He was a bit of a barrier rogue, so we went into the barriers last. It was sprinkling beforehand but then bucketed down just as the gates opened.

“It worked for us as he is a go-forward type of horse, and he went straight to the lead and didn’t get the kickback that all the others received.

“He just kept going although nearing the winning post I had to ditch my goggles as I couldn’t see.”

Eleanor’s last ride was at Cowra in January 2022 on Life Well Lived for the Ryans and was unplaced.

Eleanor said she was relatively lucky with injuries although she was out at one stage: “The main injury I had was at Mudgee in the barriers when a horse reared up and fractured my sternum.

“It healed after around eight weeks, but it took much longer for the ligaments around it to heal.

“Down the track I may look at getting my trackwork licence again but probably not race riding as I don’t think my body will let me.”

Eleanor had most of her winners at Dubbo with 20 victories but rode right around the country at Cunnamulla (Queensland) and at Alice Springs (NT).

“I wasn’t prepared for Alice as it was baking hot. I’d gone from 15 degrees at Bathurst to the high 30s at Alice Springs and it was a shock to the system although I did ride a winner.”

Eleanor won five races on Worldly Pleasure including one at Canterbury Park: “She was my first and only winner in town. She was a lovely mare and was also a Country Horse of the Year.

“Another good horse was Just a Flash and I won four races on her. She was the fastest horse I’ve ridden – just had one speed ‘flat out’ was as silly as a wheel!

“But for now I’m as happy as I’ve been and this job is so rewarding; I still get to be somewhere close to the horses which is fantastic!”