Tony Allan (born in

Pukekohe Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, it is in South Auckland, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. ...

, Auckland Region) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

jockey He started his apprenticeship at age 16 to Grant Searle in Levin. He said he was inspired to become a jockey by his late father who would frequently take him to the Levin racecourse. He is best known for riding

Empire Rose Empire Rose (1982–2002) was one of the most popular Thoroughbred mares to race in New Zealand and Australia. She was a gigantic chestnut, only just fitting into the barrier stalls in Melbourne. Trained by Laurie Laxon, one of New Zealand's ...

to victory in the 1988

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melb ...

. Over the course of his racing career Tony accomplished 12 Group 1 wins.

Notable wins

The following are some of the major races Tony has won in his career.

Career

In 2003, Allan admitted to using methamphetamine. However, he has subsequently worked hard to change his lifestyle and become clean. Tony retired in 2005 and moved to Japan for a break, riding trackwork for around 10 years in Hokkaido before a job with Sydney trainers Peter and Paul Snowden. On 27 May 2017 Tony made a comeback to race day riding in New Zealand. His first winner back in New Zealand was on Thursday 28 June 2017 at Waverley on My Cool Boy. On Friday 16 March 2018 Tony rode his 1000th winner on New Zealand soil in the opening race at Te Aroha aboard Aigne. In 2019 it was announced that Tony would head to Queensland to continue his riding career comeback for New Zealand trainer Paddy Busuttin, who was also to come out of retirement to train at Deagon, near Eagle Farm. Tony stated he had previously won "''a couple at Eagle Farm and running third on Finezza Belle for Laurie Laxon in a Group Two (Prime Minister’s Cup, 2400m) at the Gold Coast ... I also ran second on Sapio in the

Brisbane Cup The Brisbane Cup is a Brisbane Racing Club Group 2 Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds and upwards, run under handicap conditions over a distance of 3200 metres at Eagle Farm Racecourse, Brisbane during the Queensland Winter Racing Carni ...

(Gr. 1, 3200m) and I rode

Poetic Prince Poetic Prince, known in Australia as Our Poetic Prince, was an Australian bred and New Zealand trained race-horse that was a top performer at Group 1 level. Racing career Poetic Prince was trained by John Wheeler at New Plymouth. Two year old s ...

when he ran second to Planet Ruler in the

Queensland Guineas The Queensland Guineas is a Brisbane Racing Club Group 2 Thoroughbred horse race held over 1600 metres, at set weights, for three-year-old horses held at Eagle Farm Racecourse in Brisbane, Australia in June during the Queensland Winter Racing Ca ...

(Gr.2, 1600m)''". In December 2019 Tony came back to New Zealand and resumed Raceday riding. In 2021 Tony commenced as a horse trainer at Otaki.

References

Living people New Zealand jockeys New Zealand racehorse trainers Sportspeople from Auckland Year of birth missing (living people) {{NewZealand-horseracing-bio-stub

Notable wins

Career

See also

References