JYE McNeil was a hard-working farm kid who loved to zip around on his motorbike, surprising dad Darryl when he announced his desire to become a jockey.
That was at the age of 13 or 14 years.
Darryl encouraged Jye to fetch recently-retired racehorse Accelerant from the family’s back paddock, unsure if anything would come of the suggestion and busy with farm work.
“I thought, he won’t bother but I came home that night and here was the horse with its head over the stable door,” he said.
It wasn’t many weeks before Jye was testing Accelerant’s pace along the McNeils’ straight grass track.
“He had his first gallop there on that old horse and next thing the old horse was getting pretty fit so (I) thought we’d take him up to Swan Hill and give him a jump out,” Darryl said.
“I still remember it was Sunday morning and we were heading up and Jye said, ‘Who’s riding him dad?’ and I said, ‘You are’ and he looked up and said, ‘I haven’t been out of the barriers’.”
Darryl reassured his son there’d be locals at the track and they’d show him what to do.
Although he now reflects he threw Jye in the deep end, the young lad proved up to the challenge.
“He never turned a hair, he went around and the horse ran about third in the trial,” Darryl said.
By the time Jye was 16, he was off to Mansfield to do his jockey’s apprenticeship with Gerald Egan, having to leave behind family and friends and move to a place where he knew no-one.
Jye had been visiting Egan during school holidays and it was tough on the McNeil family when the trainer announced he thought Jye was ready to stay with him.
While Darryl wasn’t in Mansfield at the time, Jye’s mum, Michelle, said she, along with Jye and his brothers, Sam and Logan, lost it when they heard he’d be staying in Mansfield.
“Me and the three boys were in tears,” Michelle said.
However, Jye soon adjusted and kept in touch through phone calls and texting.
He was well looked after in Mansfield.
“Pam and Gerald took him in and they had a son and daughter about the same age as Jye,” Darryl said.
Jye had a bungalow out the back of the house, but had meals with the others.
While Jye’s first competitive ride was in Swan Hill, it wasn’t long before his breakthrough win on his home track.
His mount, De Mars, flashed past the post first to claim the 2011 Summer Cup.
After Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup success on Twilight Payment, Kerang Turf Club was quick to express delight on its Facebook page.
“The Kerang Turf Club is extending congratulations to you and all your family and friends and the Gannawarra community and beyond are so very proud of you,” the statement said.
The club’s acting president Colleen Shay said Jye’s achievement will be recognised publicly when that becomes practical, reflecting on what he’s accomplished.
“He’s spent long hours at the track and has persevered and is now a champion jockey and he’s known all around the world now,” Ms Shay said.
Jye has always possessed a strong work ethic his father said, something that helps explain the young jockey’s rise in a highly competitive sport.
