Episode 590: Shannen Llewellyn - The gifted young jockey who taught herself to ride on a slow harness horse

Activities like pony club, showjumping and eventing were not on Shannen Llewelleyn’s radar during her teen years on the NSW Central Coast. That’s not to say she didn’t like horses. In fact the idea of buying herself a suitable steed one day had crossed her mind more than once. A job at a local Woolworths Supermarket allowed Shannen to save diligently, and it wasn’t long before she had enough spare cash to buy the horse of her dreams. That horse turned out to be a standardbred who’d never made it to the racetrack. She named him “Shadow” and began the slow, tedious process of teaching herself to ride from scratch. Not surprisingly there were a few anxious moments. Memories of old “Shadow” are beginning to fade these days as she boots home winner after winner on NSW racetracks- 150 winners in fact since March of 2024. Shannen joins us on the podcast to talk about her rapid rise. She begins by talking about her recent transition to metropolitan racing. Shannen talks about the crowded lady jockey’s rooms these days in and out of the city.  The 24 year old talks about her early upbringing at Lismore and the family’s relocation to the Central Coast eleven years ago. She talks of her scholarly attributes. Shannen says she moved back to Lismore for a while and began her working life with Woolworths.  When the time came to rejoin her mother and sister, she was fortunate to gain a transfer to a Central Coast Woolworths store. At age 19 she purchased her own horse. Shannen later sought a second job with hours to fit in with her Woolworths commitment. That job happened to be with a thoroughbred operation run by a master horseman.The journey had begun. She says a short stint followed with Wyong trainer Kim Waugh which led to an offer from leading Western Districts trainer Brett Robb. Shannen says she rode in almost 40 barrier trials before applying for a licence to ride in races. The process seemed to take forever. She looks back on her very first race ride at Dubbo, and admits she got a scare when the horse “bucked” out of the gates. The young jockey was thrilled to win at her 5th race ride on Dubbo favourite Elson Boy from the Dar Lunn stable. Shannen couldn’t believe her luck when she rode another winner just two days later. She rode for just four months of her first season in the saddle, and couldn’t believe the winning run that came her way. Shannen talks about the offer she received from trainer Jane Clement which saw her move to Bendemeer near Tamworth. She loved the experience. She talks of a Parkes Cup win last year on veteran galloper Knife’s Edge.  Shannen talks of her move to the Nathan Doyle stable at Newcastle a year ago. She acknowledges the horses to give her seven metropolitan wins so far. The jockey says her weight is giving her no problems at this stage of her career. Shannen makes special mention of her favourite horse to this point in time.  She talks of devoted mum Danielle and older sister Lakisha. Shannen admits to being overwhelmed by the good fortune to come her way in such a short time.