Voorham and Nunn write new page in Rocky Cup history!

While local Cups king Master Jamie was denied a record third Rockhampton Cup, two Tasmanians, and an imported Irish gelding stepped into the spotlight at Callaghan Park last Saturday.  

Launceston duo Teagan Voorham and Aiden Nunn teamed with five-year-old Hype to win the $150,000 carnival feature over the Callaghan Park mile.

Voorham and Nunn who once played for the same polocrosse club in Tassie’s north, wrote a new page in Cup history.  

Now based in Adelaide, twenty-seven-year-old Voorham became just the second woman rider and Nunn the first trainer from Tasmania to win the Rocky Cup.

Patience has been the key to Voorham’s success in recent years and the jockey produced a perfectly timed ride to bring Hype down the outside of the field in the 600-metre Callaghan Park straight to finish clear of a wall of horses headed by the gallant Graeme Green-trained seven-year-old Master Jamie (Les Tilley) and Stuart Kendrick’s Tattersall’s Cup-winner Under The Cap (Cody Collis).  In 12^th place in the 14-horse field on the home turn, Voorham peeled wide, passing runner after runner to gain the lead inside the final 100 metres and draw clear to win by almost 2 lengths. 

Nunn had previous success wintering his horses in Queensland but not in Rocky. He had two prior attempts at getting to the Beef Capital but rain foiled his plans both times. When contacted by the RJC he decided it might be a case of third time lucky.

The Longford trainer who bases his horses in Beaudesert during winter also had nominated Hype for a 1600m race in Brisbane last Saturday but the prospect of fine weather and a good racing deck at Callaghan Park persuaded him to head north. Nunn initially sought Craig Newitt to ride Hype but the jockey’s manager had him booked elsewhere, that’s when he reached out to former Tasmanian apprentice Voorham. 

The jockey joined Pam O’Neill, who won the Rocky Cup in 1990 on Supersnack, as the only two women to take out the Cup in its 106-year history. A modest young woman, Voorham got her love of horses at a pony club in Tasmania when she was eight years old. She graduated to other horse activities including polocrosse and that is where she met Hype’s trainer Nunn. “I could ride having pony club experience but Aiden taught me a lot, particularly riding polocrosse,” Voorham said. “I got an invite to fill in for the Northern Polocrosse Club in Launceston and met Aiden and his wife Sarah there, later on I rode for the Midland Spurs polocrosse team.”  

Voorham rode track work while still at high school and began her racing career as an apprentice jockey with Nigel Schuuring in Tasmania seven years ago. After showing promise in the Apple Isle riding plenty of winners, including a few for Nunn, she was invited to move to South Australia while still an apprentice in 2019. There she joined Adelaide trainer Chris Bieg’s stable on loan. Things were looking up for the young rider before her world collapsed after a trackwork accident at Morphettville. In December 2020, she broke her leg which required surgery that needed screws and rods inserted into her leg. Determined to pick up things where she left off, nine months after the fall Voorham was back in the winners’ list riding the Leon Macdonald and Andrew Gluyas-trained Extra Time to victory at Morphettville. 

In May last year, her remarkable rise through the ranks continued when she won the Listed Port Adelaide Guineas on Hasta La War, just one week before finishing her apprenticeship. Voorham believes her time out with her broken leg could have been a blessing in disguise. It certainly was a turning point in her career. “I had plenty of time to think on the sidelines and analysed all the things I could be doing better,” she said. “I reached out to SA’s jockey mentor Darryn Murphy and the legendary John Letts for some advice and it was the best thing I did,”  Soon after Voorham went on a ‘winning spree’ including a few wins at Listed level. Last season was her best so far. From 2933 career rides, Voorham has notched 248 wins and proudly now adds the TAB Rockhampton Cup to her impressive resume. 

RJC CEO David Aldred.