Antoinette Armes
Born in the Channel Islands, Antoinette Armes was apprenticed to Henry Candy and rode 18 winners in Britain before emigrating and continuing her career in Western Australia.
She made her debut in 1988 but had to wait until 12 July 1990 for her first winner on 33-1 outsider Persian Lord, trained by Candy, in the Kenilworth Apprentices’ Handicap at Kempton Park, winning by a length. They followed up seven days later in a similar contest at Sandown Park.
Antoinette ended the season with five wins from 28 rides. She won four races from 60 mounts in 1991, then recorded a best score of seven from 88 rides in 1992, including her most important success for Henry Candy on 14-1 chance Venus Observed in Kempton Park’s Jubilee Handicap (the race formerly known as the ‘Great Jubilee’ when it was of far greater significance). Venus Observed beat Willie Carson’s mount Sharp N’ Smooth, the 7-2 favourite by a length and a half.
Her total fell to just two in 1993, the last of them on Perfect Passion for trainer John Bridger in the Side Hill Apprentice Handicap for three-year-olds at Newmarket on 30 July.
She rode in 14 races in 1994 without managing a winner, her final ride being when finishing tenth of eleven on the James Eustace-trained Checkpoint Charlie in a 0-70 handicap at Brighton on 13 June. Soon after, she moved her tack to Western Australia in search of better opportunities.
She went on to forge a successful career in Australia’s westernmost state. While she may not have hit the heights at Perth’s big city tracks, Ascot and Belmont, she did quite well at the smaller provincial tracks and country meetings such as Port Hedland, Roebourne, Exmouth, Kununurra, Wyndham and Marble Bar.
Describing some of those venues in Paul Richards’ 2001 book ‘Racetracks Across Australia’ she commented as follows.
Port Hedland (1,595km northeast of Perth, holds six meetings a year between late May and early June). “Port Hedland has a grass straight but the rest of the course is dirt. This change in surface doesn’t seem to affect any of the horses’ chances. You can come from behind and win or set the pace and prove hard to catch. Some of the barrier positions are a bit of a test and it does help to draw an inside alley. Travelling wide at Port Hedland is not advised.”
Roebourne (1,787km northeast of Perth and 192km west of Port Hedland, holds three meetings a year). “Roebourne is a beautiful track – it is the Belmont of the north-west. It is a hard dirt surface but very big and open. Every horse gets its chance here. You can win from in front or behind if your horse is good enough. They get quite big fields here but have decent runs to the turns, so it doesn’t matter where you draw. It is a very fair track.”
Kununurra (3,067km northeast of Perth, holds two meetings in August each year). “Kununurra is nice and flat and the straight is a reasonable length. They don’t get very big fields, so the barrier draws don’t have much of an influence. Having said that, it is a track where the front-runners tend to win most of the races.”
Marble Bar (1,441km northeast of Perth and 182km south of Port Hedland, holds its annual meeting in the first week of July). “Marble Bar is a dirt track and it can get quite rocky. The surface is often hard. The straight is only short and we are turning all the time. They don’t get very big fields here. The cup only has around six runners so the barriers don’t play a part. You can win from back in the field but you need to make your run and be in the first couple on the turn.”
Wyndham (3,100km north of Perth, 135km west of the Northern Territory bolds, holds two meetings in August each year). “Wyndham is a fairly rough track. The course is actually on a creek bed. There is a bit of kickback from the stones and dirt and it can hurt a bit riding here. To avoid that and give yourself the best chance of winning you want to be up with the speed. This is a front runners’ course and not many come from behind and win here. It is a tight track and you can’t travel wide and win.”
Antoinette continued to ride successfully through the first decade of the 21st century. She had what proved to be her final winner on 15 March 2013 on Baymax, trained by Robert Martin, at Geraldton, one of the top provincial tracks.
On 11 May 2013 she parted company with her mount, the Glen Cortes-trained Aldorino, in a race at Carnavon, a track located 820km north of Perth. The consequences of that spill are unknown but it appears to have ended her career in the saddle, as she had not ridden in a race since that day.
She had ridden a total of 87 winners during her time in Australia to add to the 18 she rode as an apprentice in Britain.
