Grace Palmer scores first win at Armidale

Following a run of close finishes, where she rode placings at Gunnedah, Mudgee, Bowraville, Tamworth, Kempsey, and Taree to start her career, Grace Palmer scored a well-deserved maiden win at Armidale on Sunday.

Presenting a special moment for the young jockey and Tamworth trainer Troy O’Neile, Ropewalker ($1.60) scored comfortably in the $30,000 Maiden Handicap (1400m).

The pair had finished second in the 1400m Maiden Handicap at Tamworth on November 25 but improved for a convincing victory at Armidale.

Palmer was made to work on the Tamworth galloper, which did lay out on the Armidale home turn before straightening up and finishing strongly.

“It was a super run, and I was really happy with it,” Palmer said after the win. 

“He ran a great race, led the whole way and tried really hard right to the line.

“He had me in ‘ums and ahs’ for a minute because he does get a bit of a hang going coming down the straight, and I thought I had lost a bit too much ground, but when he chose to challenge that horse, he really tried hard and hit the line good.”

Indentured to Todd Howlett, who trains out of Muswellbrook, Palmer has spent the best part of four years with the astute trainer.

“I’ve always ridden horses,” Palmer said. 

“I was looking, just for a job, just to get out of school, and people knowing people, I found Todd, and he got me into trackwork riding and slowly progressed me through the apprenticeship.”

Palmer will be well-served under the keen eye of Howlett, who was the master of now-established jockeys, Aaron Bullock and Mikayla Weir.