Racing: Blueblood begins career in style

We are going to hear plenty more about Otago apprentice Jacob Lowry after his win aboard Timy Tyler. Photo / Thinkstock

Close your eyes when you talk to Jacob Lowry and you would swear you are in the company of a 27-year-old.

He's 17 and until a couple of years ago he hadn't thrown a leg over a thoroughbred.

On Saturday he brought home outsider Timy Tyler the $100,000 Winter Cup at Riccarton with a beautifully-judged ride.

This is a kid that is going to make it right to the top of the ladder.

With an almost total lack of remorse, racing has spat out to deep ditches the hugely talented apprentices whose egos got larger than their talent after riding a few big winners and landing in the headlines. They discover very quickly racing has no place for yobbos.

That will not happen to Lowry. His Trackside Television interview after the Winter Cup was a magnificent example of modesty and control. And intelligence.

Thoroughbreds did not figure on the teenagers' radar until a couple of years ago, but there is no question in his mind he was always going to end up in a raceday saddle.

"Always," he says, "There was never any doubt in mind."

And that's no surprise - Lowry is a fourth-generation rider. He is apprenticed to his grandfather, long-time master horseman Brian Anderton, son of Hec Anderton, in partnership with his son Shane. On the other side of Jacob Lowry's family his grandfather is Eddie Lowry, a former top jockey who rode top-class Wingatui stayer Palisade, trained by Dave "Skipper" Wilson to several wins in the mid 1960s, before assisting at Okawa Stud in Hawkes Bay.

He says the Winter Cup win is his life's most exciting moment, but it won't be for too much longer.

Brian Anderton, himself one of racing's more modest operators, claims some credit for the Winter Cup victory.

Jacob Lowry waited until well into the home straight to lodge Timy Tyler's challenge, something Anderton had drilled into him.

"I told Jacob from day one, never sprint a horse around a bend - they use too much petrol. I told him to watch Chris Johnson; he wins all his races by waiting until they straighten up and get balanced.

"This boy is extremely intelligent. I don't know who he gets it from, certainly not his old grand-dad."

Grand-dad had his moment on Saturday, winning the Koral Steeplechase High Forty and the top spot for this week's Grand National Steeplechase.

High Forty lumped a big 70kg to victory and with topweight again this week he has a tough job, made potentially more difficult with the likelihood of a wetter track this time.

Rain is forecast for most of the midweek days in Christchurch, but Brian Anderton says he is not terrified by that prospect.

"I certainly won't be using rain as an excuse if he's beaten. The steeplechase course down the back is virgin ground and it gets tough only from Jumbo [700m out] to the post."