Teo Nugent has been gradually rising through the jockey ranks over the last three years and on Saturday at Moonee Vally, the 22-year-old ticked off a major milestone when he scored his maiden stakes win aboard Grandview Avenue (Statue Of Liberty {USA}) in the Listed Carlyon S.
Apprenticed to Ciaron Maher and David Eustace since 2016, Nugent has been exposed to a fast-paced environment at Caulfield racecourse for most of his jockey career however it started in much humbler beginnings down in Warrnambool.
“Mum and Dad were in horse racing all their life really,” Nugent said. “Dad was a trainer, he trained predominantly jumpers so that’s how he knew Ciaron. Ciaron used to train down at the beach at Warrnambool and Dad knew him pretty well.
“And then Mum was a jockey around the same time, so Mum and Dad have been in the industry for a long time and I was going to school at the same time.
“I always used to help them out after school but I was never really keen on it until I hit about age 15 or 16.”
“I always used to help them out after school but I was never really keen on it until I hit about age 15 or 16.” - Teo Nugent
It was around then that Nugent decided he wanted to pursue a career in racing and he joined the local stable of Quinton Scott, where he would go in to ride out in the mornings before going to school, until he eventually quit school and took up full-time work.
“When I was about 15 I started work for a little trainer in Warrnambool named Quinton Scott and I was with him for about a year, to a year and a half, and I was going to school at the same time and doing Year 10 and 11,” Nugent said.
“I got halfway through Year 11 and pulled the pin on that and decided school wasn’t for me, so I started full time for Quinton and he only had 20 horses in work so it was pretty cruisey.”
Getting serious
Once he decided he was serious about becoming a jockey, Nugent travelled to Ireland where he spent 10 months in the Racing Academy and Centre of Education (RACE) and got to spend time working for Group 1-winning trainer Michael Halford.
“It was a racing academy and they took about 30 apprentices a year and taught them everything you need to know,” Nugent said. “It was 10 months straight riding about five horses a morning and then go and do your classroom stuff like English and maths during the day, just to get your certificate in school.
“In the mornings, you’d wear this earpiece and they would radio in to tell you what you were doing right and wrong so it was pretty cool.
The mounting yard at The Curragh
“Two months into the program they sent you out to a trainer on The Curragh and they sent me to Michael Halford and he trained about 120 horses mainly for Godolphin and the Aga Kahn.
“I was there for about eight months all up and he had four apprentices at the time. I really wanted to start race riding over there but his number one apprentice was only getting about one ride a month off him and he had another three, so he had four apprentices who weren’t getting any race rides.
“It was a closed shop over there and I had done the year, and I came back to Australia for a holiday and I really wanted to go back.
“While I was home for a holiday over Christmas to see Mum and Dad, I nipped down to Ciaron’s to ride a little bit of work and I’ve been with Ciaron ever since, I’ve never looked back.” - Teo Nugent
“While I was here for a holiday over Christmas to see Mum and Dad, I nipped down to Ciaron’s to ride a little bit of work and I’ve been with Ciaron ever since, I’ve never looked back.”
Nugent’s decision to commit himself to a career in racing came from his love of the sport and the feeling of winning and when it became too difficult to juggle school and work, he decided one of them had to give way.
“Probably when I was about 15, towards 16, I started to fall asleep during school because I was working in the mornings and I was like’ stuff school, this is rubbish’,” he said.
“I loved horses and I loved riding trackwork, and I loved going to the races and obviously seeing them win. Strapping them when they won and I had been riding them trackwork, it was like a whole fluster, I got so up and about over it.
“So that’s probably mainly where it took off from, but Mum and Dad too, they gave me a big push. Obviously Mum had been a jockey and Dad used to train them and I think it was inevitable (that I would become a jockey), it was just a matter of when I would happen.”
Teo Nugent winning aboard Grandview Avenue on Saturday
Moving to the big smoke
Things ramped up for Nugent when he decided to pack up and move to Melbourne and join Ciaron Maher in the big smoke at Caulfield.
“It was a pretty big move, I came to Ciaron’s when I was about 18,” he said.
“Obviously coming straight from a small Irish town to going back home to Warrnambool and then coming to the big city, I don’t think I even had a license when I got there.
Teo Nugent with Jukebox
“It was a big eye-opener but I loved it though, the beach wasn’t far away and it’s been unreal. It’s a really good spot being in Caulfield, obviously, race riding now, it’s very central.”
After being granted his license and riding for a couple of months in Victoria, Nugent then headed up to Sydney on loan to Gai Waterhouse at Tulloch Lodge which he said was a great learning experience.
“Gai’s was great,” he said. “I never got any race rides for her but I spent three months up there on loan.
“I’d only been race riding for about two months and she really tidied my style up.
“I’d only been race riding for about two months and she (Gai Waterhouse) really tidied my style up." - Teo Nugent
“She was a very good mentor in getting race fit. She was very hard about getting me a personal trainer, so three times a week I’d go to the personal trainer she’d sorted me out with.
“It was flat out, trackwork, I rode out 15 to 20 a morning and then trials every Tuesday. So it was a really good grounding and I learnt a lot, especially about trackwork and I was very fit, probably fitter than I am now.”
While he didn’t get to ride for Waterhouse in a race, Nugent said he learnt a lot about Sydney racing and has since been back to ride in NSW.
“I won the country championships which is a $150,000 race at Albury so that was a pretty big thing and I’ve ridden a couple for Ciaron up there, including Dr Drill when he won at Randwick,” Nugent said.
Greatest mentors
While he has been in and about some of the biggest stables in the country, Nugent says his greatest mentors so far in his career have been his parents.
“Probably my mum (has been me biggest mentor), Mum and Dad for sure,” he said. “They always call me every day and tell me what I’m doing right and wrong.”
Nugent also said that his manager Ash Beer has played a big role in his success so far.
“Ash Beer is my racing manager and she books all of my rides, but that’s the only person in my team,” he said.
"I’ve got a lot of owners that kick up for me and sell my name a little bit but that’s about it, I’ve only really got Ash.”
Unsurprisingly, Nugent’s career highlight came on Saturday when he took out his first stakes race on Grandview Avenue, who he first partnered to win at Dunkeld over two years ago.
“Saturday would definitely be the biggest highlight for me, especially to do it on that horse,” he said. "I won on him in a BM64 and then to see his progression through to now, it was a massive thrill.”
With less than a year to go of his apprenticeship, Nugent’s main goal for the future is to outride his 1.5kg metropolitan claim and he said if there was one race in particular he would like to win, it would be the G1 Caulfield Cup.
“I’ve got 23 or so city winners left for my 1.5kg claim and I hope to outride that this season,” he said. “I finish my time at the end of September so hopefully I can knock that off by then.
“I think one race I really want to win would be the Caulfield Cup. Purely because I was with Ciaron for about six months and obviously Jameka won the Caulfield Cup and there was such a big limelight on that, so yeah I’d probably want to win that race.”
