Emerging Southern Districts apprentice Holly Durnan has made quite the start to her career in the saddle.
The young jockey from a pony club and eventing background has been race riding for just over two months, and in that time she’s ridden nine winners at better than 27 per cent from just 33 rides.
Apprenticed to Wagga trainer Gary Colvin, Durnan has already experienced a winning treble and winning double and on Friday she narrowly came up short from riding another double from just two rides at Goulburn.
“It’s all happened very quickly,” Durnan said.
“The dream is to keep progressing in the right direction and one day get an opportunity to ride in town.
“That’s still a long way off and right now my focus is to keep getting experience and working off my country claim.”
Lunar Solar shines brightest in the fifth event at @goulburnraces under the urgings of apprentice Holly Durnan! ????☀️ pic.twitter.com/nwAaH8bF54
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 16, 2023
One man that is playing a major role in Durnan’s development is former top Sydney and Singapore jockey Dan Beasley who is now based in the district.
“She’s just a great kid,” Beasley said. “She’s a real natural.
“If she keeps her feet on the ground she’s going to make it.
“Racing has been my life for the past 30 years or so.
“I’m indebted to the industry forever for everything it’s given to my life so to be able to give something back by mentoring young riders is something I’m keen to do and I really enjoy it.
“To have someone like Holly to guide and share my experiences with is great and very rewarding.
“I also speak to Ben Thompson in Queensland a lot. I formed a really good friendship with him up in Singapore.
Danny Beasley after a recent win at Randwick. Photo: Jeremy Ng–Getty Images.
“He and Holly are very similar although at very different stages of their careers.
“They are just great kids, they want to learn, they want to be better and are also very humble.
“The day she rode three winners at Wagga, the next morning the first thing she asked me was how could I have done it better. That says plenty about her.”
While Durnan has charged out of the blocks, being a jockey was not on her radar as a young rider.
“I always thought I’d do eventing professionally, but I didn’t have the nerve to do it at a high level,” she said.
“When it came to the big jumps, I couldn’t do it.
“Being a jockey is different. As long as I don’t have to go over jumps, I’m fine.”