Young rider Chloe Wells is hoping her hot start to the racing season can continue at the Ladbrokes Racing Centre in Launceston on Friday night.

Wells has ridden seven winners from just 30 rides and sits at the top of the table as the first two months of the 26/27 season draw to a close.

After a stint in Queensland, Wells returned home 12 months ago and made an immediate impact.

“Very glad that I did go and got to experience somewhere else. I felt I really did grow as a person and as a rider as well.

“I came back a bit more level-headed and felt like I matured, but there’s nothing better than coming home. I got off to a great start when I came back and ended my apprenticeship on a high. I had a few feature rides, including the Cups, competitive rides as well,” Wells recalled.

One of those was a gem of a ride on Distrustful Award, who finished third behind Asva in the Ladbrokes Launceston Cup.

Wells is fast becoming a go-to jockey; she is based in Devonport but is happy to do the hard yards and make regular trips south to ride trackwork, and that’s already paying off with an association with the powerful Stuart Gandy stable.

“I hadn’t ridden for Stuart that much throughout my apprenticeship, but we seem to have a good association at the moment. He’s great to ride for; a lot of credit goes to him and his staff. They have a big team at Brighton, and they do a wonderful job.

“I try to get down to Brighton once or twice a week, obviously race days permitting and that type of thing; that's only been of late, but I am trying to get down there to help get a foot in the door.”

Wells has six rides on Friday night, five for Gandy, the other for the state’s premier trainer John Blacker.

She rates the best of her rides, Miss Lyra from the Gandy camp in the 1120m class 1. The mare is backing up after a solid second in similar company last Wednesday; in fact, Wells is keen on her last three rides of the night.

“Miss Lyra is probably my best, she went super last week, she just wanted to hang out the all the way up the straight. I said to Stuart if she had gone straight, she would have been a hell of a lot closer to the winner, but that’s been ironed out now and she will be thereabouts again.”

Wells also gives the speedy Alpine Thunder a strong chance of bringing up a winning hat-trick in the 1120m BM76, despite a tricky gate.

“It’s a hard race; it wouldn’t shock if any of them won, but he will be right there on the speed, probably leading. They will have to be going fast to cross him, and you would think he would be suited to a track like Launceston; he’s got a really good kick off the corner, so you would think that would really suit him.”

Southern Auroras rounds out her night in the 1220m class 3.

“She’s a really nice mare. She put two wins together at the start of last prep and has had little bit of a freshen. A little bit unlucky at her last run, she couldn’t build any momentum and was stuck on the inside for a run, so it was a forgive run. I’m not really sure where she gets to from the gate; a fourth or fifth one-off would be nice. We’ll work it out as it goes.”

It’s a big night with nine races, all covered by Tasracing Live and Racing.com, with the first race at 17:34.

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