Craig Grylls more than lives up to his pedigree with premiership win
Dennis Ryan - Raceform • July 4th, 2025 1:00 PM • 5 min read
In racing, pedigree is not a guarantee for success, but there’s no denying the sound foundation it can provide.
That’s the case not only for horses but also for its biped participants, with the most notable current example jockeys’ premiership winner Craig Grylls.
The 35-year-old Matamata-based rider made no contest of his first title, taking an early lead and forging clear of the field to establish a tally of 136, nearly double that of his nearest rival, 2021-22 and 2022-23 champion Michael McNab.
It’s easy to say Grylls was born to be a jockey. His father Gary was one of the most successful of his era with a New Zealand tally of 1,215 wins during a career lasting from 1978 to 2007. He had followed his father John into jockey ranks, Grylls senior having won more than 700 races from the late 1940s through to the early 1980s.
Craig Grylls can also lay claim through his mother Leigh to a maternal grandfather, Wallace Caddy, a successful jumps jockey whose 44 wins during the 1940s and ’50s included the 1952 Great Northern Hurdles.
Even allowing for that lineage, success is down to the individual, and as his family’s first premiership winner, Craig Grylls has delivered in spades. His career began as an apprentice jockey in 2006 and five years later his tally stood at 269. His first taste of Group One success came as an 18-year-old in the Easter Handicap on Pasta Post, trained by his employer Graeme Sanders.
That win could hardly have been more appropriate in what at the time was Ellerslie’s highest-rated 1600m event with an honour roll that included his grandfather, who won on Kia Marea in 1972, and his father, the winning rider of Cosmetique in 1986.
The Grylls name will always be associated with Te Awamutu, but Craig took a pragmatic approach to deciding on his next move after completing his apprenticeship, which led to the far busier Matamata training centre.
“I couldn’t have wished for a better start to my career than with Graeme Sanders,” he says. “He was a great boss and if I was to do it all again I wouldn’t change anything. But to take the next step I had to be where the opportunities were, and Matamata seemed like the logical choice.
“At the time it was the best move I could have made for my career and when I look back at what I’ve achieved since I think it’s fair to say it was the right decision.”
The path to his first premiership included an 18-month stint in Singapore, but over recent years it had an air of inevitability about it. After season-by-season tallies ranging from the 50s to the 70s, he made the top five in 2020-21 with 83 wins, followed by a third placing with 91 wins in 2021-22, second a year later with his first century on 117 wins, third last season with 96 wins, and a current tally of 136, which he may yet add to with a planned return from a winter break in mid-July.
That wide margin allowed the luxury of an early winter break to give him time to recharge his batteries and reflect on his landmark season.
“Over the years I’ve been lucky to have ridden for some of the best stables and win so many races on their horses. Coming to Matamata and riding work for various leading trainers meant getting good raceday rides, and that boosted my overall profile. I’ve ridden nearly 100 winners for Wexford, 80-odd for Graham Richardson and lots of others for trainers based there.”
It’s perhaps ironic therefore that in more recent years it’s been Grylls’ association with New Plymouth trainer Robbie Patterson that has made the majority of his headlines. His New Zealand Oaks win at Trentham in March on the Patterson-trained Leica Lucy was his fourth Group One for the stable and took his overall tally of elite wins to 19, the same as his father.
That was also his 100th win for the season and one of a total of 80 for Patterson from just 322 raceday rides dating back to the first in 2021.
“Coventina Bay was my first winner for Robbie in the Manawatu Challenge Stakes in late 2021, and later that summer I won the Herbie Dyke and Bonecrusher Stakes on her. We also won the Thorndon Mile together with Puntura and then the one that really counted, Leica Lucy in the New Zealand Oaks at Trentham in March.
“She had won all those feature filly races through the season but to really prove herself she had to win the Oaks. The Ballymore filly (Dubai Gold) pushed us hard but my filly was just too tough, she wasn’t going to be beaten, so if anything it was more a relief to pull it off.”
Criss-crossing the country in quest of winning rides is the most taxing part of an in-demand jockey’s weekly routine, but in that respect Grylls has something of an advantage over his rivals as the owner and pilot of a Cessna aircraft.
“It sure makes it easier, especially with the better weather and longer daylight hours in summer, to get to the races rather than having to drive long distances,” he says. “But even then it takes it out of you chasing rides, so with the lead I had in the premiership it was good to be able to take a break earlier this month and just potter round, play a bit of golf, go for bike rides and generally chill out.
“I plan to be back riding trackwork next week and be ready for my first raceday at the Opunake Cup meeting down at New Plymouth on July 19. Hopefully Robbie will have some nice rides lined up for me there.”
As well as the trainers and owners who provide the horsepower, Grylls credits his agent, former jockeys’ room colleague Michael Coleman, with much of his success. “Mickey and I have been mates for years and it’s great having him taking care of my bookings. He knows the form, he’s always there to give me advice and it works well for me.”
Looking ahead to the new season, Grylls is well aware that various factors will again be at play in his quest for a second premiership. In his favour is a laidback approach to life and work – a
trait that along with innate horsemanship and being a natural lightweight he inherited from his forbears – and something that is unlikely to change.
“It’s been a season to remember, which includes my sister Bridget coming out of a run of injuries and back winning races,” he says. “My main goal is just being consistent, giving my mounts their best chance, and hopefully the rest will take care of itself.”
