Darren Gauci
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Gauch |
| Born |
26 December 1965 Melbourne, Australia |
| Spouse(s) | Karen Gauci (née Dunkerton) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Professional jockey |
| Updated on 22 April 2013. | |
Darren Gauci (born 26 December 1965, in Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian professional jockey.
Racing Career
Gauci is one of Australia's most successful and durable jockeys. He won the Senior Victorian Jockeys Premiership in 1983-84, 1985–86, and 1990–91.[1] He has come close to winning Australian racing's greatest prize on three occasions, with seconds in the Melbourne Cup on Chagemar (1984), Super Impose (1989), and On A Jeune (2005).[2]
Gauci has been successful in a vast number of Group 1 races. For several years, Gauci also rode with great success in Hong Kong. Gauci won five races on trainer Lee Freedman's champion Super Impose, including an Epsom Handicap (1990), and rode Lonhro to victory in the Caulfield Guineas (2001) and the St George Stakes (2004) in his two rides on the "black flash". In an extensive association with trainer John Hawkes, he also won the Thousand Guineas on Shame (1995), a Doncaster Handicap on Over (2000) and a Stradbroke Handicap on Crawl (2001), but the partnership was terminated in 2005.[3]
At the 2005 and 2006 Spring Carnivals, in Melbourne, Gauci won a feature race on El Segundo, and was narrowly beaten in the Cox Plate.
Over the years Gauci has had a number of bad riding injuries. For example, when he was in his early twenties, Gauci fell at Yarra Glen races and slipped in and out of a coma for eight days.[4] In June 2011, at Mornington race course, the horse he was riding had a heart attack under him, crashed through the running rail, collapsed and died. Darren suffered very severe injuries and he did not recommence riding for ten months.[5]
Despite his experience and skill, Gauci does not get rides on prominent horses as much anymore. However Darren says he understands that this is the reality and still enjoys his riding. Gauci said "As you get older it's a little bit harder, people put you on the back-burner a bit, they say you've been there, done that, probably had enough" .."I still love riding — I just do a lot more of it now, it's every day, and night."[2]
A glimpse of the 'glory days' occurred at Wodonga, Australia on 2 June 2013, when Gauci rode a 'treble'.[6]
As at 14 December 2013, Gauci has ridden in 7048 races and been placed in 1904 races including 669 wins. Total prize money won by horses ridden by Gauci is almost $36 million.[7]
Personal life
Gauci is married to Karen (formerly Karen Dunkerton) whom he met when he made a guest appearance on the television show "Young Talent Time" in 1983.[8] Karen was a member of the Young Talent Time team at that time and the 'starlet and the jockey' story created significant local media interest. They married in 1989 and have four children.
In 2000, a portrait of Gauci was hung in the Archibald Prize competition.
He is of Maltese origin.
References
- ↑ Brassel, Stephen (1990). A Portrait of Racing. Sydney: Simon & Schuster Australia. p. 102. ISBN 0-7318-0130-X.
- 1 2 Darren Gauci: Still enjoying the ride | The Age 13 October 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2013
- ↑ Gauci and Hawkes end partnership
- ↑ In the twilight zone, but ageless Gauci is still living the dream | Sydney Morning Herald 13 October 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2013
- ↑ The Gauch back on the winner's list at Kyneton | Racenet News 23 April 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2013
- ↑ Gauci treble | News Limited 3 June 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2013
- ↑ "Darren Gauci's All Seasons Statistics". Racing and Sports. Racing and Sports Pty Ltd. 14 December 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
- ↑ Talent time at Sandown