Less than a day after his first group 1 ride and in the middle of what should have been the greatest three weeks of his fledgling career, Jabez Johnstone found himself in a dark place.
His phone lit up with a series of death threats and vile social media abuse in the aftermath of a tragic horse death in the Caulfield Cup.
Many accused the second-year apprentice of causing the mid-race interference that led to two horses and their jockeys crashing to the turf.
They were wrong. Two days later Johnstone and all riders involved in the Cup crash were cleared by Racing Victoria stewards of any blame.
But the 20-year-old’s meteoric rise from the backblocks of Tasmania to the bright lights of the spring carnival had taken a hit. He felt the need to hide away.
It was at this time that Johnstone sister’s Taylor, a senior rider in South Australia who introduced him to the sport, delivered her younger sibling some sage advice.
“I gave him a call because I knew that, obviously, he’s still a young kid who’s trying to, you know, just navigate his way through it,” she said.
“So I just said, ‘mate, the best jockey in the world [Zac Purton] is getting criticised for his ride on his horse in the Everest as well, so it’s just a part of racing, and you’ve just got to try and shut it out’.”
Others rallied to support the apprentice – his first trainer and mother figure Sarah Cotton, his apprentice coach and father figure Stephen Maskiell and his new master Ciaron Maher.
“When you’re getting death threats and hate messages, or you can’t even open social media without seeing your name everywhere, I think it affects anybody, especially someone at his age,” Cotton told this masthead.
“We just kept saying, ‘you’re not doing anything wrong. Keep your head down, keep working.’”
With the backing of Maher, Johnstone turned out on Cox Plate day at Flemington, a week after the Caulfield Cup, and almost won the group 2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup on Mr Monaco. He was back.
On Tuesday, he will ride the same horse in the Melbourne Cup.
“That’s a true testament to him and his strength that he was able to put that behind him and keep going out and riding and not worrying about it,” Cotton said.
The fearless siblings
Taylor and Jabez Johnstone were born three years apart, but have always stuck together.
Growing up 30 minutes outside Hobart, they would “bomb around” a paddock at the back of their house on a couple of ponies – “no saddles, no bridles, nothing,” she said.
“We were both pretty fearless,” Jabez’s 23-year-old sister recalled. “We didn’t really care about or worry about much when we were kids, and I think it still stays the same until this day.
“We used to just go flat out. There were no gears. There were definitely no rules to it. We came off plenty of times, but we’d always get straight back on.”
Despite their love of horses, and natural talent, the Johnstones followed an unorthodox path into racing.
Taylor was dragged along to trackwork by a friend, and never left. Her motorbike-riding and car-loving little brother was looking for a suitable career path two years later.
“He was on the verge of finishing school [year 10], and didn’t really want to go to college. Neither did I, obviously,” she said.
“And I said, ‘you know, why don’t you just come out and give it a try and see how it goes’?
“For a start we had no connections in racing whatsoever. We both had no idea about it. We never even used to really watch it on the TV, so it was all very new to us when we started riding.”
Now they are living the dream. Taylor has forgone a book of rides at Morphettville on Tuesday to be at Flemington to watch her brother race.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she said.
Treated him like a son
After deciding he would become a jockey, Johnstone spent a year trail riding with Maskiell at Seven Mile Beach, 20 minutes east of Hobart, before starting his apprenticeship with Cotton.
The jockey coach, who stays in regular contact with the second-year apprentice, remembers a raw young kid with beautiful balance who soaked up information like a sponge.
“I would ride my old my horse, and he rode this old grey horse that’s retired now, Sir Simon, and every single day he was with me at the beach, and I was hard on him and treating like my own son,” Maskiell said.
“He copped it really well, and that was why you could keep him teaching him because he was good with criticism. But his greatest asset, him and his sister, is they’ve got an unbelievable work ethic.”
Johnstone had his first race ride for Cotton on a horse called Super Cutter, finishing fourth at Hobart on Melbourne Cup Day in 2024. His sister had returned from Adelaide for the day to be his strapper.
“She flew down and surprised me for my first race ride,” Johnstone said.
“Then I went up and got changed, and we went and watched the Cup and that’s kind of when the dream really sparked up. I never thought it was reachable, but to be able to be here in two years and finally get that opportunity, it’s unreal.”
Maskiell said an entire state would be cheering Johnstone on Tuesday.
“We are very, very proud,” he said. “I think everyone, you know, any racing enthusiast or punter will get behind Jabez riding the Melbourne Cup because they feel it’s part of Tasmania.”
Maher enters the picture
Cotton, who could not make it to Melbourne for the Cup because she had a baby girl, Chelsea, last Thursday, knew she would not have the best apprentice in Tasmania for long.
“He was always destined for bigger things than Tasmania,” she recalled. “He had full books here every meeting. In some ways he outgrew us. He was ready to go when he went.”
First to spot Johnstone’s prodigious talents from the mainland was Maher’s general manager Sam Lefebvre, who had links to Tasmanian racing.
“He said ‘you should get this kid over, I think he’s pretty good’,” Maher explained. “I had a look at him and thought, ‘there’s a bit of an X-factor about him’, and he’s been good.
“He works hard, he’s a strong rider, he’s a lefty and righty [handed], he’s learnt a lot. With each race, I feel he takes something out of it. Each time he goes to races, he improves.”
Since transferring his apprenticeship from Cotton to ride solely for Maher in May, the lightweight apprentice quickly made his mark, landing two group 3 races in October, including qualifying Mr Monaco for the Melbourne Cup by winning the Bart Cummings at Flemington.
“For Mr Monaco to be my first group winner in Melbourne, and then be able to continue and stay on him into the Melbourne Cup, it’s a fairy tale,” he said.
It might be a dream come true for Johnstone, who will be the youngest jockey in the race this year, but it has not surprised his sister.
“I knew straight away,” she said. “I always used to say to our apprentice coach Steve Maskiell, ‘this kid’s going to be a better rider than me. I can see it.’
“Not putting myself down at all, but I could just see by the way he conducted himself.”
Maskiell quickly dismisses critics who were quick to say apprentices should not ride in high-pressure, elite group 1 races after the Caulfield Cup fall. He says Kerrin McEvoy was 20 when he won his first Melbourne Cup on Brew in 2000.
So, exactly two years after his debut, Johnstone has ridden two group 3 winners, taken part in his first group 1, landed a Melbourne Cup ride and navigated the perils of social media.
“Most of the people who write those comments have no clue what they’re talking about, but it can be hard,” he said.
“You’ve just got to sit back and try and ignore it best you can, and just overcome it. The support I’ve got from everyone was immense. So many people put their hand up, not just back in Tasmania, but in Melbourne.”
But there has been no greater supporter than his sister.
“She’s probably the closest person I have in my life, and it’s been like that for several years,” he said.
