KEY POINTS:
Former South African jockey Jason Jago rode his first winner in New Zealand last Friday.
He guided third favourite O'Reilly's Bar to victory in a $10,000 maiden at the Thames picnic meeting on the Coromandel Peninsula.
Jago, 34, gained his licence to ride in New Zealand in November and rides plenty of trackwork for the Matamata stable of Mike and Paul Moroney.
Paul Moroney said the win was well earned by Jago. "He's a really hard worker," Moroney told Trackside television.
"All these jockeys that are coming from South Africa, Zimbabwe - the one thing they all have got is a top work ethic.
"He's shown that from the day he arrived in New Zealand, coming from Cambridge to Matamata to ride work almost every day. I'm rapt for him."
Jago has followed in the footsteps of former Zimbabwean jockey Mark Du Plessis who has established himself one of New Zealand's top riders.
"He [Jago] was a little bit like Mark Du Plessis when he arrived," Moroney said. "He's got an international style, it may not appeal to everybody.
"They found it a little bit difficult to get the pace of the racing here.
"But once they get it, as Mark has shown, they are world class jockeys."
- NZPA
