It’s a tough gig being a jockey, equally so at the elite level.
When you’re winning Gr1’s you’re everyone’s friend from the owners and trainers to the punters.
The flip side is that a couple of dot-balls is often followed by connections finding a replacement rider.
Glen Boss (Pic – Racing New South Wales)
That’s proved to be the case for Glen Boss, with the renowned big race rider losing the mount aboard Godolphin’s star sprinter Bivouac (Exceed and Excel-Dazzler, by More Than Ready).
According to racenet.com.au, Boss will vacate the saddle for Hugh Bowman in the upcoming Gr1 TJ Smith Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick after the valuable future Darley stallion finished out of the frame in his two most recent starts, the Gr1 Black Caviar Lightning (1000m) at Flemington and the Gr1 Canterbury Stakes (1300m) at Randwick.
In the three starts prior where Boss had been the pilot, Bivouac had won the 2020 Gr1 Newmarket (1200m), finished runner-up in The Everest (1200m) and won the Gr1 VRC Classic (1200m).
Although clearly disappointed at the decision, Boss did the only thing any rider can do in an industry where burning bridges is career suicide – he took it on the chin.
A stoic Boss said, “I was happy with the way I rode him and thought I gave him every chance (in his two recent runs). Out of my five rides he won two Gr1’s and ran second in The Everest. This is the game we’re in. You’ve got to roll with the punches, and I wish them all the best.”
The 51 year old is best known for riding Makybe Diva to victory in three consecutive Melbourne Cups from 2003 to 2005.
He also won four Cox Plates: Makybe Diva in 2005, So You Think in 2009, Ocean Park in 2012 and Sir Dragonet in 2020.
