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By Ray Hickson

He's one of the state's most promising apprentices but Reece Jones is not a young man in a rush.

You’d think after he rode six city winners in the space of three days, including four at Royal Randwick, earlier this month he’d be itching to keep the momentum going by jumping straight back to town at the end of a recent suspension.

But instead of riding at Rosehill on Saturday he’ll be at Newcastle then he’ll head to Dubbo on Sunday, Taree on Monday and Gosford on Tuesday. It’s unlikely the 25-year-old will ride again in Sydney until the start of the new season.

It’s part of Jones’s plan to win this season’s NSW apprentice title and then hit the ground running in the new season and chase Tom Sherry’s soon-to-be crown as Champion Sydney Apprentice.

Apprentice Reece Jones after winning on Gravina (Pic: Bradley Photos)

“It wasn’t an easy decision, there was a bit of debate about it, but I think at the end of the day it is the smarter option to take in the grand scheme of things,’’ Jones said.

“I’m thinking about the endgame, it’s something I’ll cop on the chin until the end of the season.

“When you see a horse going around you’ve won on you think ‘it could have been me’. It’s something I have to put up with more or less.

“The thinking of it was I’ve ridden 13 winners in town and only have seven left until my claim drops to 2kg. I could possibly get that done by the end of the season, which is good but it has its disadvantages.”

It would have been so easy for Jones to want to ride a wave of adulation - and there was plenty of it on course - that came from his quartet at Randwick on June 12 – where he rode Casino Kid (Jan Bowen), Gravina (James Cummings), Opacity (John O’Shea) and New Arrangement (Chris Waller) to victory.

Two days later he rode a treble at Warwick Farm – including The Empire (Gary Portelli) and Kibosh (John Thompson) – but was stripped of his win on Admit It after weighing in light.

That run of success formed part of discussions with his master, trainer Rod Northam, and his manager Alison Dyson. Should he capitalise on the biggest stables in Sydney wanting his services now?

“Once I rode the four winners we were debating whether to keep going with the momentum and try to build on it,’’ he said.

“It’s something I didn’t think was going to be possible, I was happy just to win one but to come away with four was unreal.

“Confidence is a funny thing, when you are on top of the world it shows in your riding and everything seems to work out.

“I think those wins provided me with a good opportunity to get my name out there and for trainers to see me. I hope after five or six weeks they remember.”

Jones holds a handy lead for the NSW apprentices title and with just over a month to go that remains his focus. The seven city wins remaining before losing the 3kg claim can stay on ice for now, with the plan to use them as a springboard come August 1.

He said he’s taken a heap of confidence out of what has happened in June, enough to think he is a realistic chance of challenging for metropolitan honours.

“Obviously Tom Sherry smashed it this season but there’s a limited amount of apprentices in town at the moment so I think it’s a good opportunity,’’ he said.

“Before that weekend it probably wasn’t a main goal of mine, I was happy enough plodding along but I think it is achievable.

“It’ll be easier to start off with a bang with the 3kg than if I had 2kg. Just to have that slight advantage for trainers to put me on when the start of the season rolls around.”

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