Fred Kersley returns to scale aboard Royal Applause, who completed his maiden Victorian metro double
Western Australian whiz kid Fred Kersley has not taken long to find his feet in Victoria.
The apprentice jockey, who made a blazing start to his career in his native Western Australia, brought up his maiden Victorian metropolitan double at The Valley on Friday night.
After partnering Pirapala to victory for Lindsay Park Racing – to whom he is on loan – in Race 6, he guided Royal Applause to a narrow victory in the final race of the night for Symon Wilde.
The Valley double followed two winners at Geelong on Thursday and Kersley, the grandson of Northerly’s trainer and harness racing legend Fred Kersley, is relieved to have made a successful start to his stint east.
“This has been a sensational night and I’d like to thank all the connections for supporting me,” Kersley said.
“It’s been good to be able to repay them.
“I did have some big shoes to fill when I came over here, and it will take me a while to fill them, but it’s been good so far.”
Royal Applause was Kersley’s fifth winner, and third at metro level, since crossing the Nullarbor at the start of the month.
Kersley, 18, was one of three apprentices to celebrate winning doubles at The Valley with Stephanie Thornton winning two of the first three races, aboard Lady Seabring and Tenappy Ladies.
Ethan Brown also made two visits to the winner’s stall, guiding Twitchy Frank to victory for Darren Weir in Race 2 before taking out the 55 Second Challenge aboard Kakanui for Brendan McCarthy.