Jockey Tyler Leslight roams the state in bid for 2024 Roma Cup

Jockey Tyler Leslight will have travel fatigue by the end of the weekend but it will all be worthwhile should his quest for back-to-back Roma Cups hit pay dirt.

Ben Dorries

2 min read

November 15, 2024 - 1:54PM

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Apprentice jockey Tyler Leslight is taking the old racing adage ‘have saddle, will travel’ to the extreme.

Desperate to relive the greatest racing moment of his young career by shooting for back-to-back Roma Cup victories on Stampede Warrior on Saturday, Leslight will travel almost as much ground as some of the early explorers.

On Friday, the Atherton-based hoop was driving 90 minutes to Cairns and then catching a flight of more than two hours to Brisbane.

Then he was hiring a car and driving to Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, and staying the night there before driving another 350m to regional Roma on Saturday morning.

Mark Zahra sipped the finest champagne following his Melbourne Cup victory earlier this month, Queensland hoop Tyler Leslight slept in his ute after his career-best win in the Roma Cup on Saturday. @TrentonAkers @Racing_QLD @TylerLeslight https://t.co/d8alGT10hV pic.twitter.com/D1BGk6OVh7
— Racenet (@RacenetTweets) November 19, 2023

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After riding at the Roma Cup card, Leslight is set to fly back to North Queensland where he will take a couple of rides at Townsville on Sunday.

Travel fatigue will certainly have set in by the end of the trip, but he said it was all worthwhile for a chance to win another Roma Cup.

Leslight stormed to glory on the dirt track at Roma last year when Stampede Warrior, trained by Bevan ‘Billy’ Johnson of Fab’s Cowboy fame, surged home from well back for an imposing six-length victory when paying $15.

“Winning this race last year was my biggest thrill in racing,” Leslight said.

“So this year, I chased Billy, from about six weeks ago, I begged him to let me ride him.

“I was so excited when I got the booking that I started organising all the travel straight away.

“I’ve had the best run on this horse, I’ve won seven races on him.

“He put me on the map in my first two years of riding.

“I won an Alpha Cup on him and a Quilpie Cup and I even rode him in the Birdsville Cup.

“This horse has taken me to a lot of places.”

Tyler Leslight wins the 2023 Roma Cup aboard Stampede Warrior. Picture: David McInally – Three Way Photos.

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Two starts ago, Stampede Warrior won at Mount Isa to show he will again be a force to be reckoned with in the $40,000 Roma Cup (1640m).

As Leslight shoots for back-to-back Roma Cup victories, he knows the nine-year-old war horse like the back of his hand and he knows exactly how to ride him.

“Usually, I just let him fall out and come from behind,” Leslight said.

“I start building from the 800m and just let him creep past them.

“You’ve got to go around them, you can’t take runs through the field as this horse can’t afford to be checked.

“Last year when he won, he had been four-deep with cover.”

Originally published as Jockey Tyler Leslight roams the state in bid for 2024 Roma Cup