Michael Coleman
Trish Dunell
Each win Michael Coleman ticks off is bringing him closer to a significant achievement.
The 47-year-old hoop has 25 wins to notch up before he joins the elite 2000 club and admits that it is becoming a focus for him as the numbers tick over.
"As long as people keep putting me on, and I keep riding winners then I am happy," he said.
There is no shortage of trainers lining up to engage the Matamata hoop at the moment, with his seven rides at Ellerslie on Boxing Day coming courtesy of six different stables.
Among them is Sound Proposition in the Gr.1 Zabeel Classic for the Lance O'Sullivan-Andrew Scott stable. Coleman has already notched Group One success on the five-year-old son of Savabeel when they took out the Easter in April.
"He probably needs a bit of luck from the outside gate though," Coleman said.
The evergreen jockey will be calling on all the ability expected of "The King" to give Sound Proposition every chance.
So about that regal nickname?
"Leith [Innes] started it," he said. "I won a race and came back in and said 'ring-a-ding-ding, Mickey's the King,' and it has stuck. I use it as propaganda now - if you say it enough then people will believe it!"
It probably wasn't the title Coleman had in mind when he got his start in the mid-80s. Apprenticed to Jim Gibbs at a time when the master trainer had a plethora of talent in his stable, Coleman didn't set the world on fire initially.However, his talent didn't remain under a bushel for long.
"The first year was pretty quiet - I won 13 races, but then I won the apprenticeship the next two years," he recalled. "I only spent three years as an apprentice and was out of my time at 19."
In those early years Coleman was closely associated with the 1987 Horse of the Year Tidal Light, who won 10 races as a three-year-old, Coleman was on board for seven of those. His first Group One win though, came via another stable star, Field Dancer in the 1987 ARC New Zealand Stakes.
"Gibbsy had all those good horses then, the likes of Maurine, Sounds Like Fun and the rest of them," he said.
Over the years Coleman has amassed 37 Group One wins and, nearly two decades after being associated with his first Horse of the Year he became the regular rider for another. Hardly surprisingly, Coleman classes his time riding Xcellent as a career highlight.
"He was a freak, it is just a shame he didn't stay sound," Coleman said. "Still, four Group Ones and a third in the Melbourne Cup!"
If Xcellent was a highlight Coleman finds it difficult to label a low point, saying that losing his best friend in a car crash has given him a different outlook.
"It puts things into perspective," he said. "You can think you've had a bad day at the races, but you know that things could be so much worse."
To get away from racing and clear his mind, like many jockeys he enjoys his downtime on the golf course.
"It's what I like to do outside racing," he said. "I'm sitting on a handicap of eight, the lowest I've been is seven."
And while some of his rivals on Boxing Day may be steering clear of the Christmas Day buffet, Coleman isn't one of them.
"I will have a little bit of everything, ham, salad, chicken. I don't miss out on too much," he said.
"After a family Christmas with both sets of parents and the kids, it will be home and concentrate on the Boxing Day races. Hopefully, I can win some big races over the holiday period," he said, adding that his best chance of Group success is likely to be Perfect Fit in the Railway. - NZ Racing Desk.
The 47-year-old hoop has 25 wins to notch up before he joins the elite 2000 club and admits that it is becoming a focus for him as the numbers tick over.
"As long as people keep putting me on, and I keep riding winners then I am happy," he said.
There is no shortage of trainers lining up to engage the Matamata hoop at the moment, with his seven rides at Ellerslie on Boxing Day coming courtesy of six different stables.
Among them is Sound Proposition in the Gr.1 Zabeel Classic for the Lance O'Sullivan-Andrew Scott stable. Coleman has already notched Group One success on the five-year-old son of Savabeel when they took out the Easter in April.
"He probably needs a bit of luck from the outside gate though," Coleman said.
The evergreen jockey will be calling on all the ability expected of "The King" to give Sound Proposition every chance.
So about that regal nickname?
"Leith [Innes] started it," he said. "I won a race and came back in and said 'ring-a-ding-ding, Mickey's the King,' and it has stuck. I use it as propaganda now - if you say it enough then people will believe it!"
It probably wasn't the title Coleman had in mind when he got his start in the mid-80s. Apprenticed to Jim Gibbs at a time when the master trainer had a plethora of talent in his stable, Coleman didn't set the world on fire initially.However, his talent didn't remain under a bushel for long.
"The first year was pretty quiet - I won 13 races, but then I won the apprenticeship the next two years," he recalled. "I only spent three years as an apprentice and was out of my time at 19."
In those early years Coleman was closely associated with the 1987 Horse of the Year Tidal Light, who won 10 races as a three-year-old, Coleman was on board for seven of those. His first Group One win though, came via another stable star, Field Dancer in the 1987 ARC New Zealand Stakes.
"Gibbsy had all those good horses then, the likes of Maurine, Sounds Like Fun and the rest of them," he said.
Over the years Coleman has amassed 37 Group One wins and, nearly two decades after being associated with his first Horse of the Year he became the regular rider for another. Hardly surprisingly, Coleman classes his time riding Xcellent as a career highlight.
"He was a freak, it is just a shame he didn't stay sound," Coleman said. "Still, four Group Ones and a third in the Melbourne Cup!"
If Xcellent was a highlight Coleman finds it difficult to label a low point, saying that losing his best friend in a car crash has given him a different outlook.
"It puts things into perspective," he said. "You can think you've had a bad day at the races, but you know that things could be so much worse."
To get away from racing and clear his mind, like many jockeys he enjoys his downtime on the golf course.
"It's what I like to do outside racing," he said. "I'm sitting on a handicap of eight, the lowest I've been is seven."
And while some of his rivals on Boxing Day may be steering clear of the Christmas Day buffet, Coleman isn't one of them.
"I will have a little bit of everything, ham, salad, chicken. I don't miss out on too much," he said.
"After a family Christmas with both sets of parents and the kids, it will be home and concentrate on the Boxing Day races. Hopefully, I can win some big races over the holiday period," he said, adding that his best chance of Group success is likely to be Perfect Fit in the Railway. - NZ Racing Desk.
