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By Greg Prichard

Promising apprentice jockey Zac Wadick finished off the old racing season with a bang and he is well placed to start the new one as a winner from his big book of rides at Taree races on Tuesday.

Wadick has rides in seven of the eight races for four different trainers in an indication of how well he is riding and how keen they are to put him on their horses.

Zac Wadick - has rides in seven of the eight events at Taree. Image by Bradley Photographers

Three of those rides are for his boss, Taree trainer Glen Milligan, while two are for Grafton trainer Shannon Manwarring and one each for Tuncurry’s Terry Evans and Port Macquarie’s Neil Godbolt.

The 20-year-old said he was particularly looking forward to his rides on My One ($4.40 favourite on TAB) and Tayla’s One ($6), both for Milligan, and October Revolution ($4.60 fav) for Godbolt.

Wadick, who is able to claim 1.5kg, is coming off a 40-win season, with all of his winners coming at country tracks.

That was a substantial increase on his 12-win season in 2021-22. But he believes his 2022-23 season could’ve been even better.

“It was a bit of an up-and-down season for me,” he said. “I think the last couple of months have been the best of my career and if I’d kept that up for the whole year I reckon I probably could’ve ridden a lot more winners.

“But I’m happy with the way I’ve finished off the season because I think I’ve improved a lot in the last couple of months and finishing off on a high note just gives me confidence going into the new season.

“Obviously I hope to ride more winners again in the new season - start by aiming at 50 and hopefully get past that and see how we end up.”

In just his last 39 rides of the old season, from July 15 to July 29, Wadick rode seven winners - almost one-fifth of his entire season total.

“I moved from Sydney up to Taree at the end of the 2021-22 season and it took me a long time to get going,” Wadick said. “But I’ve also got to accept I was making some pretty silly mistakes during races and what I’ve done is learn from experience.

“My manager, Aaron Ison, has done a great job in getting me an increase in rides and the trainers up here are supporting me, which I really appreciate, so I’ve been able to go on an upward spiral. The trainers trust me on their good horses.”

Wadick, who was originally with trainer Mark Newnham at Randwick but was sent to the country to gain valuable experience, plans to make it back to Sydney and hopefully break through as a regular rider there, but in the meantime he says his association with Milligan has been tremendous for him.

“Glen has given me enormous support,” he said. “I get the pick of a lot of the rides for him and that has helped me a lot.”

Regarding the Taree meeting, Wadick said Tayla’s One (Taree City Bulls Charity Day Class 2 Handicap over 1250 metres) should appreciate the drop in distance from 1412m at her last start, when second.

“I think she might’ve just felt it at the end of that last run,” he said. “And her stablemate Stratum Chief sort of dragged us all off the bit and she found it hard to chase. Back to 1250m I think she’ll have a good dash in that last 200m.

“But I think my best ride of the day would be My One (Ellsberg 1st Season At Murrulla Stud F&M Benchmark 58 Handicap over 1000m).

“She’s going enormous in her work. She has been a bit disappointing on race-days at times, but I just don’t see how she isn’t going to kick on this prep, she’s working so well against other horses and hasn’t put a foot wrong.

“And October Revolution (Manning Valley Saddlery CG&E Benchmark 58 Handicap over 1000m) is a handy horse. He was a bit disappointing last start, but his overall form is good and I reckon he’ll bounce back on Tuesday and be very competitive.”

*Gates open 11am. First race 12.20pm. Full TAB, bookmaker and bistro facilities. For further details see the club’s Facebook page at Manning Valley RaceClub

View the final fields with full form & race replays for Taree here