When Rochelle Milnes was a young girl, she was fiercely passionate about riding horses.
Now 23, she has just won the coveted John Letts Medal, recognising her outstanding achievements as a jockey over the last 12 months.
“I don’t have too many goals in my career; I’ve kept it pretty simple,” Rochelle says.
Rochelle knew she wanted to be a jockey from a young age, falling in love with racehorses and the thrill of race day at her hometown’s racing club at Pt Lincoln.
She says hers is a “typical little girl loves horses” story, but with a twist, because almost everyone warned her against becoming a professional jockey.
“I was probably about seven or eight and I told Mum that I wanted to be a jockey because I just liked horses and thought they were cool,” Rochelle says.
Her mum was the clerk of the course at the Pt Lincoln Racing Club, so she took her daughter to meet some of the jockeys.
“She took me in there and she said, ‘tell the girls you want to be a jockey’ … and then all the girls kind of got involved and said, ‘you don’t want to be a jockey; be a doctor, be a lawyer’,” Rochelle recalls.
“They all tried to talk me out of it.”
That “embarrassing” moment stuck with her.
She convinced herself that she didn’t want to be a jockey anymore and, for the next 10 years, focused on school.
“I finished school, got my ATAR, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” she says.
“… I hadn’t found a passion for anything like I had for horses.”
During high school, Rochelle worked as a stable hand for trainers Darryl Carrison and John Dunn at Pt Lincoln.
“I was so keen to be involved with racehorses,” Rochelle says.
“I could work before and after school, and then I started riding a bit of track work at Darryl’s in the morning, before we’d take the horses down to the beach.”
By 18, Rochelle “still didn’t want to be a jockey”, but knew she wanted to be in the industry.
But the itch to ride persisted, and eventually John offered her a full-time job helping to look after horses at Oakbank’s Sidewood Estate.
“I didn’t really get much choice to say no, but I didn’t really want to either,” she said.
Rochelle moved to the Adelaide Hills estate with John and his partner, Krystal Bishop – a dramatic change for a country girl.
“The first week I was here, we went down to the Adelaide Fringe Festival and I was holding onto John and Krystal’s jackets because I’d never seen that many people in my life,” she says.
“I was absolutely terrified.”
At the estate, Rochelle was strapping and working with the horses while Krystal was riding.
“I was just drifting along in the wind, having a good time at the races,” she says.
“Then I started doing more track work in the morning and Krystal would ride with me, and I got told off a lot – telling me to steer and pull my arms back.
“I think with farm work, you build up a bit of strength and a bit of fitness and, slowly, my riding got a bit better.
“It was years into being here that I was finally convinced to do a jump-out here at Oakbank.” Rochelle says she was a “giggling mess” during that first race simulation, but it turned out to be a foundational moment in her life and career at age 19.
Once I’d gone out the gates for the first time … I just got the bug. I just thought ‘this is so much fun and what if I got paid to do this?’
John was Rochelle’s biggest supporter and says he knew she was destined to be a jockey from the day he brought her to the estate.
He worked behind the scenes to have her noticed and accepted into the jockey academy, while giving her space to recognise her talent in her own time.
She was fast-tracked into Racing SA’s Apprentice Academy program after a spotter recognised her talent while watching replays of her jumps.
“A lot of people in the industry hadn’t heard my name, so I just came in and knocked a few people out of their spots, and I think it rattled the cage a bit,” Rochelle says.
The next three years pushed her to her limits and challenged her physically, emotionally and mentally.
But she went on to become the fastest jockey to ever claim the John Letts Medal.
In three years as a jockey, she has won races including the Balaklava, Pt Lincoln and Adelaide cups. Her success brought media attention, rivalries and a flood of public expectation that, for a country girl “terrified” by the crowds in Adelaide, was a great hurdle.
But her love for horses continued to inspire her to pursue her goals.
She says she has always found comfort on the track, at Sidewood Estate and with her ‘Adelaide family’ in John and Krystal, while her parents in Pt Lincoln are very supportive of her chosen career path.
Having achieved one of SA’s greatest riding feats, Rochelle says she’s not sure what’s next but she’s excited for the ride.
“I’m just going to try to keep riding winners and do my best,” she says.
