IPSWICH - She has Michelle Payne’s words and deeds as her guide, but apprentice Kate Cowan is blazing her own trail in the saddle – doing things her own way and doing her best.
The New Zealander won at Ipswich last Friday, riding Scottish Prince to victory for her master, veteran Brisbane trainer Pat Duff.
Scottish Prince ($7.50) won the Pender Accounting Group Maiden (1350m) by a length from long-shot Priti Piper ($51) with third-placed Scenic Rim ($31) a further half a length away.
“I was a little bit skeptical I guess because I thought he would go better on a softer track,” Cowan said.
“It’s just the impression he’s always given me, just because of his action and the way he feels going on a track.
“But he felt super today. Cantering off to the gates I thought he might be in for a good race today.”
Scottish Prince started well and took up a good position during the race and, apart from having a bit of trouble rounding the home turn, he was simply too good for his rivals.
“I think he’s just a horse that’s needed time and experience with his racing,” she said.
“Pat’s done a great job with figuring that out and then placing him in the right races. Finding this one today was really good.”
Cowan started off riding in New Zealand before taking up an opportunity to come over to Australia.
“It wasn’t like a forever thing, I thought. I just had an opportunity to go on loan to South Australia for a little bit. That was two years ago,” she said.
“I went there and I really enjoyed it and one thing lead to another. I did my three months there and then thought about where to go and I had some advice off Michelle Payne actually.”
Payne advised her to go out to the bush tracks to get more experience riding in different conditions.
Having been inspired by watching Payne’s landmark Melbourne Cup win and reading her book, it was like a dream come true for Cowan to have Payne take an interest in her.
“In South Australia I was riding mainly provincial and city but I probably needed that bit more experience,” she said.
“So I took that step back and thought: I’m going to go out to Dubbo for a year. I was with a man called Kody Nestor who helped me a lot with my riding and reading a race and he was really brilliant.
“I was there for a year and I outrode most of my country claim.”
But while she loved that experience, she wasn’t going to take the next step in Dubbo.
“My goals and aspirations are to ride in the city and use that claim that I’ve got to the provincials as well and take that next step. So that’s where coming to Pat came from,” she said.
“And I’ve been here ever since.”
A check on her riding record reveals a long list of tracks she’s ridden on, from Doomben and Rosehill to Gulargambone and Grenfell.
“Yeah, I’ve had my fair share,” she laughed.
“I think you need experiences for things to become instinct, especially in racing and I’ve gone from riding in New Zealand where you’d ride very differently at Riccarton Park as opposed to - I’ve even been out to Broken Hill.
“You just have to be able to adapt to your surroundings and your instincts have to match where you are; you have to be able to ride the track and against those different jockeys and different horses and different styles and different patterns.
“But you also need to have your own unique style … what you can bring to the table as well.
“So I’ve had to do a lot of adapting. I got a fright going to New South Wales and how quick they would go straight away out of the gates – a hundred miles an hour. So little bits from each place you just learn a little bit more.”
Kate Cowan grew up riding horses. Her dad was a jockey in New Zealand who ended up riding over jumps because of his weight. He was also a horse trainer who just has a couple of his own these days.
“I’ve always loved horses. I’ve loved other things as well,” Cowan said.
“I wanted to finish school and go to university and travel and get all that out of the way.
“I studied teaching and then I taught in America - horse riding and I ran a drama department.
“I also worked for the earthquake recovery in New Zealand in Christchurch. I’ve done a few different things.”
Looking out over Ipswich racetrack, Cowan said it was important to distinguish between life experience and horse experience.
“I think it’s important because horses are one part of it but there’s everything else that comes into it and you need to be able to deal with people and pressure and how to handle yourself and knowing what you want out of it,” she said.
“I just like to take sort of each day as it comes and focus more so on riding each horse I have to the best of my ability. It sounds funny but I don’t let emotion come into it much.
“I don’t like to compare myself to other people. Obviously I want to be successful in riding in town and riding winners – everyone does – but obviously the mindset of taking each day as it comes, not comparing myself to everyone else and just riding each horse as best I can, to the best of my ability, and being really fit, is something I think is really important as well. So that’s what I focus on each day.”
