RYAN BRADLEY – RACING WON OUT OVER FOOTY

RYAN Bradley could have been feeding the scrums for the Canberra Raiders!

The 21-year-old, now apprenticed to multiple Group 1 winning trainer Kerry Parker at Kembla Grange, by his own admission was a “cheeky little half-back”.

“I played at a high level at juniors for Queanbeyan Blues, and my dream was to play in the NRL (National Rugby League),” he said today.

“Being involved in racing didn’t cross my mind at all, but I caught the bug.”

That occurred when he visited his aunty, Mornington trainer Leonie Proctor, back in 2020 – and racing won out over footy.

It’s been some week for the young jockey who was back in the winning list last Thursday for the first time in ages – 18 months to be precise – and then had his first provincial rides at his home track two days later.

Bradley’s victory on fellow Kembla Grange trainer Anthony Mountney’s Vis I Do ($2.80 favorite) in the Benchmark 58 Handicap (1100m) obviously won’t reach the annals of the all-time greats, but it meant so much to him – and understandably so given what he has been through.

Whilst he began riding in October 2022 and this was only his fourth success (he can still claim 4kg until one more winner), his career has been heavily punctuated by injuries to both shoulders; one of them courtesy of his footy days.

“I’m a bionic man,” he laughed, referring to the operations which included numerous inclusions to his body, not the least of which are five screws in a full left shoulder reconstruction.

“I always had an issue with that left shoulder from playing footy, and it took many, many months to recover from the operation.

Ryan Bradley with partner Mia Wright who strapped Vis I Do

“Then when I had been back riding work for a few weeks, a horse reared up and I held on and knew I had done my right shoulder.

“I had keyhole surgery this time, and doctors put two hooks in that shoulder.”

Whilst rugby league in the “big time” was his dream, Bradley does have a racing pedigree.

“My grandfather Henry Cartwright was a very successful jockey, so too my uncle Ricky Cartwright and my cousins Matt and Luke Cartwright are both also in the game and riding well.

“I really had no interest in becoming a jockey until I visited my aunty Leonie on the Mornington Peninsula.

“She put me on a pony maned Nemo one day, and I thought it was pretty cool.”

Bradley actually spent two years in Victoria and was apprenticed to another Mornington trainer Matt Laurie, but got homesick and returned home.

He will never forget his riding debut at Goulburn on October 11, 2022.

“I rode a horse (Epaullo Creed) part-owned by my father and brother in a Maiden Plate (1000m),” Bradley said.

“It was a very heavy track and we drew the outside barrier and led around the home turn on the outside of the track. He battled on well to finish fifth.”

Bradley didn’t have to wait long to taste success. That was five days later at Nowra when he landed the Mollymook Cup (a Benchmark 66 Handicap, 1200m), again on heavy ground, on $17 chance Hard Core.

Bradley subsequently won successive 1600m races in December 2022 on Team Joseph’s Nieces And Nephews; the Cooma Cup and Fred Cooper Cup at Goulburn.

His shoulder dramas behind him, Bradley decided on a move to Kembla Grange earlier in the year and linked with Parker in February.

“I had been going to Wollongong at weekends to see my manager Ryan Robertson, and rode trackwork at Kembla Grange on Saturday mornings,” he said.

“That’s when I met Kerry, and he was happy to take me on when I felt it was time for a fresh change.

“Kerry has been terrific to me, and so has Anthony (Mountney).

“Jockeys Brock Ryan and Adrian Layt also have been very helpful with advice.

“To win on Vis I Do for Anthony at Bathurst was pretty special as my partner Mia Wright (who is learning the ropes and will soon ride in trials to eventually be able to compete in races) was the gelding’s strapper.

“I put my head down in the back straight pulling up after the race, and then when I came back to the enclosure and saw both Mia and Anthony, I choked up.

“It was a pretty emotional moment.”

Bradley followed that victory with his first three rides – two for his boss (Kerry Parker) and the other for champion trainer Chris Waller - at the provincials at Kembla Grange last Saturday.

“Winning the Bathurst race and then getting those rides, including my first for Mr Waller, when I ran third on Up And Under (an Irish import), has given me a real boost,” he said.

“Up And Under led and gave a really good kick in the straight, and I thought for a while there that we were home.

“I now have forthcoming rides at Moruya on Friday, Gundagai on Saturday and Cowra the following Saturday.

“They are all TAB meetings, so I’m getting further experience and looking forward to what I can hopefully achieve in the future.”

Those days as a cheeky little No 7 feeding the scrums for Queanbeyan Blues are but a distant memory!

Story John Curtis, June 23, 2025