Episode 319: Anthony Allen

We caught Anthony at the end of a good week. He’d ridden a double on the Gold Coast the day before, and a winner at Eagle Farm the previous Wednesday. As Incentivise’s original rider he was a keen observer when the rising star won Saturday’s Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington. He watched on a TV monitor in the mounting yard at Aquis Park. Anthony gives his impressions of the Makybe Diva win and then takes us through Incentivise’s rise through the grades in Queensland. We chat about Anthony’s early years in Maitland and the shock discovery of his hearing impairment. He’s been wearing hearing aids from age eight. The jockey talks of his fascination with the game of Rugby League and his lifelong fascination with the Newcastle Knights. He talks of the only racing link in his family background- the grandfather who wanted to be a jockey but wasn’t allowed to pursue his dream. Anthony talks of two apprenticeships in Grafton and his move to a Brisbane stable. He remembers his first ride which turned out to be a disaster, and his very first win at Murwillumbah. Allen still can’t believe he rode five winners on a Saturday metropolitan programme at Doomben. He looks back on a three months “loan out” to a leading Sydney stable in 2012. He rode a winner at Rosehill on his very first day at a Sydney meeting. Anthony acknowledges the support of a fellow jockey during his short stay in Sydney. He pays tribute to a few of the horses who’ve helped him along the way. You can’t help but admire his honesty as he talks about the day at Beaudesert when he had a mental block about the distance of a race. He explains the circumstances that may have contributed to his concentration lapse. Anthony speaks glowingly about the talents of his fiancee Alannah Fancourt, a very capable jockey in her own right. They won three races between them at Aquis Park last Saturday. A good yarn with the twenty eight year old who helped develop the talents of the Caulfield and Melbourne Cup favourite.