Episode 586: Bob Vance - Star NZ jockey of the 80’s and 90’s now training successfully in partnership with wife Jenny.

Bob and Jenny Vance train a very small team at Ardmore in Auckland but boast a healthy strike rate with a Gr 1 win already on the board. I have vivid recollections of Bob winning the 1993 W.S Cox Plate on The Phantom Chance- the first of five Cox Plates I got to call for the Nine Network. Just three years after winning the famous Moonee Valley feature, Bobby Vance decided to call time on his stellar riding career and join his wife Jenny in the training ranks. Swedish born Jenny Moller had also enjoyed a very successful career in the saddle. We tracked Bob down last week and he agreed to join us on this week’s podcast. He begins by talking of the Ardmore training complex and says he and Jenny run the operation unassisted.

He reflects on the thrill of a Gr 1 training win at Te Rapa in 2021 with an expat Hong Kong galloper.

Bob looks back on he and Jenny’s initial reaction when daughter Maija announced her intention to become a jockey.

He talks of Maija’s immediate success in NZ and a subsequent five year stint in Australia.

The former ace jockey talks of Maija’s switch to jumps riding and the career ending injuries she sustained in a crash at Rotorua.

Bob says he was watching the race on TV in Auckland and knew instantly Maija was in serious trouble.

He talks of his daughter’s horrific injury list and her amazing recovery over a period of years. Maija is now training in tandem at Cambridge with partner Josh.

Bobby looks  back on childhood days in Auckland and a work experience stint with a legendary Ellerslie trainer.

When the time was right for Bob to be signed up as an apprentice jockey he had to go all the way to Matamata. He was required to go to school when stable chores were completed. Bob looks back on a very unhappy episode in his life.

He remembers the stroke of good fortune that led him to an apprenticeship with legendary Takanini horseman Colin Jillings. He was there for the duration of his junior term and beyond.

The Jillings/Vance partnership soon reached dizzy heights with the ongoing success of star galloper Uncle Remus.

Bob looks back on his 4 win haul in the prestigious NZ Derby.