Sky’s the limit for Aebly

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This article was published 08/09/2023 (767 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Hot apprentice Fraser Aebly kicked off the weather-shortened week at Assiniboia Downs with a natural hat trick on Monday. He wasn’t the only rider who sizzled this week. Two-time leading rider Antonio Whitehall scored a single on Monday and a four-bagger on Wednesday, helping leading trainer Jerry Gourneau to a hat trick of his own.

The 19-year-old Aebly has shown talent beyond his years from the first day he rode at the Downs this summer, and he’s only going to get better. A number of horses have improved noticeably on the rider-switch to the 4-11, 105-pound apprentice from Grande Prairie, Alta.

Some think it’s the light weight, but that’s not the case. It’s his soft hands, as well the horses run for him. We haven’t seen horses fly like this for a new jockey since Juan Crawford was here more than 20 years ago. Aebly’s not a miracle worker, he still needs some horse to work with, but if there’s gas in the engine, he’ll get the best from them.

Aebly started his riding career last year at Hastings Racecourse in Vancouver and immediately showed an affinity for the game, winning with his first mount on Sept. 18, 2022, a longshot named Quagmire ($24.90) for trainer Steve Henson.

“It was just something I always wanted to do,” said Aebly, who first sat on one of his father’s old race horses on their acreage in Alberta at the age of 13. Freshly out of high school in January 2022, Aebly also gained some all-important on-the-ground experience grooming horses for top trainer Tim Rycroft at Century Mile. A lot can be learned by spending time in the stall with horses, and an understanding of the equine mind provides an additional edge for all top jockeys.

Aebly has been splitting his time between Hastings and Assiniboia Downs, flying back and forth between race days, exercising horses in the morning and riding them at night. He’s been on an even bigger roll recently, winning the $50,000 CTHS Stakes at Hastings Racecourse on Aug. 28 aboard Just Jimmy for graded stakes-winning trainer Craig MacPherson, and flying back to Assiniboia Downs to score a natural hat the following Monday in races two, three and four.

Aebly won the second race at the Downs aboard Shootin Money ($5.20) for trainer Elton Dickey, the third with Kontie ($4.30) for Lise Pruitt and the fourth on The Lonna Ranger ($6.10) for trainer Wendy Anderson. Two of the three wins came via a rider switch to Aebly, and while the prices weren’t high, that angle has been solid all year, including longshots.

The hat trick wasn’t the first for Aebly either, he scored one of those at Hastings.

“It felt good,” said the polite, well-spoken young man. “It was my first back-to-back hat trick. I’d like to thank all the owners, trainers and grooms that have helped me out. The atmosphere here has been pretty good.”

Aebly is winning at a 20 per cent clip here and has now won 17 races to break into the top 10. He’s also won 22 races at Hastings, where he currently sits fourth in the standings. Overall he’s compiled a lifetime record of 42-61-33 from 268 starts and purse earnings of $522,528, excellent numbers for a young apprentice hoping to break in at Woodbine in the fall.

Apparently, they have some talented apprentices riding at Woodbine right now, but we’d have to rate Aebly right up there with the best of them based on what we’ve seen so far. Quite simply, he rides like a skilled older rider, which is very rare. If he can get the right opportunities at Woodbine, the sky’s the limit.

“He’s a natural,” said leading rider Antonio Whitehall, who led all riders with five wins last week at the Downs, including four on Wednesday. The last time Whitehall won four races on a card was in 2020, when he won his second riding title here, and it looks he’s going to follow the same pattern in 2023 as he rolls towards his third title. Two of Whitehall’s wins on Wednesday were for leading trainer Jerry Gourneau, and helped that trainer to a hat trick of his own as he heads for his record fourth consecutive training title.

Whitehall, a 29-year-old from Barbados, now has 49 wins, which puts him 14 victories ahead of a very solid new addition to the jockey colony in Damario Bynoe (35 wins), and 20 wins up on 2021-2022 champ Jorge Carreno, who is tied for third in the standings with Chavion Chow. Ronald Ali rounds out the top five in the standings with 24 wins.

Whitehall has been riding with more confidence than we’ve ever seen in him before. He showed up early in the spring, worked as many horses as he could, and added another piece of important prep work to the mix.

“I went back to the basics,” said Whitehall. “Work hard, work hard. And I studied, I did a lot of homework, watched a lot of videos, more than I ever did in my whole career. It helps you tell what kind of horse you’re riding. Because sometimes, on some of the horses I ride, I’ve never ridden them before. And if I watch the video, I can see if they’re a headstrong horse or if I’ve got to ride them early, or if they’re a horse you’ve just got to be patient with. Video homework works.”

When the Assiniboia Downs meeting ends, Whitehall plans to ride at Century Mile in Alberta. He won’t have any trouble getting mounts, he finished second in the standings there in 2020 with 43 wins and fourth in 2021, with 30 wins. He’ll also have another mount-booster to take with him.

His third Assiniboia Downs riding title.