Top jockey looking at early season return
Paul Vettise • July 23rd, 2025 12:14 PM • 4 min read
Former champion jockey and apprentice Matt Cameron took another significant step toward his return to race riding this week.
Cameron was in action on Tuesday at the Avondale trials where he placed in two of his five rides in testing conditions.
“The track was extremely heavy, but I pulled up well so that was really good,” he said.
The 38-year-old hasn’t ridden for nearly a year following a well-documented suspension and subsequently made significant changes, including a move north away from the Waikato.
“I’m based at Karaka/Drury and shifted there from Waiheke Island where I was working at the Man O’War Winery while I was off and enjoyed that,” Cameron said.
“I’ve done three or four weeks of trackwork and been going down to Cody Cole’s place at Matamata a few times a week.
“Donna was a big supporter of mine over the years when she was first training in New Zealand.”
Cameron has kept active in his time away and is happy with his current fitness level.
“I’ve been doing a lot of running to keep as fit as possible and my weight has been good, I don’t struggle with it like some unfortunately do,” he said.
“I was also walking about 15kms every day while I was working at the winery.”
Cameron is hopeful of reigniting his riding career in early August.
“I have to do everything right and I am looking at getting back riding in the first week of the new season, maybe at Ruakaka on the 2nd or soon after that,” he said.
Cameron established himself as one of the leading jockeys in the country with a career tally of 1485 winners, 109 at Group or Listed level, and he has 18 Group One successes to his credit.
He won the National Jockeys’ Premiership in the 2013/14 and 2014/15 season with 143 and 155 winners respectively and 60 in the 2005/06 term to be crowned Champion Apprentice.
