Gold Coast jockey Chris Whiteley rode his first metropolitan winner in almost five months at Eagle Farm before declaring he was happy to remain in the shadows of trainer Alan Bailey's stable rider Glen Colless.Whiteley is Bailey's number two stable jockey and rides mostly at the Gold Coast each Saturday as well as venturing to the state's country regions midweek.Whiteley, whose biggest win was aboard the Bailey-trained Amex in the Magic Millions Cup (1400m) at the Gold Coast in 2004, made a rare
Gold Coast jockey Chris Whiteley rode his first metropolitan winner in almost five months at Eagle Farm before declaring he was happy to remain in the shadows of trainer Alan Bailey's stable rider Glen Colless.
Whiteley is Bailey's number two stable jockey and rides mostly at the Gold Coast each Saturday as well as venturing to the state's country regions midweek.
Whiteley, whose biggest win was aboard the Bailey-trained Amex in the Magic Millions Cup (1400m) at the Gold Coast in 2004, made a rare trip to Brisbane in Colless' absence to partner Starsplash to victory in Wednesday's Winnipeg Plate (1300m).
The daughter of Galileo produced a stylish performance to edge out Master Of War by a long neck which gave Bailey the confidence she was destined for better things in the future.
Colless doesn't expect to make his riding comeback for two more months after he broke a bone and had two toes on his left foot almost severed when he was involved in a track mishap at Eagle Farm earlier this month.
Whiteley rode in north Queensland for six years before he joined Bailey in 2000 and is content to ride wherever his boss instructs him to go.
His last winner in Brisbane was aboard the Gerald Ryan-trained Fangles who won a 1200-metre Class Six at Doomben on October 4.
"I'm quite happy to poke along and ride wherever Al asks me to go," Whiteley said.
"I haven't won a race in town since Fangles won last year."
Whiteley broke his arm in a race fall in October 2007 and didn't return to the saddle for six months.
However, the long layoff hasn't affected him as his victory on Starsplash took his tally of wins to 50 in the statewide Queensland jockeys' premiership, two behind leader Shane Scriven and 1-1/2 behind second placed Toowoomba apprentice Brent Evans.
Bailey later made it a perfect day with his two runners when Night Rogues won by two lengths in the A Little Kiss Handicap (1200m).
Bailey believes both Starsplash and Night Rogues have promising futures.
"Starsplash had no luck and got in a lot of trouble when beaten in her first two starts," he said.
"She's well bred and being by Galileo she's likely to need a bit of time but I wouldn't rule her out of the winter carnival just yet.
"But all her family have shown in the past they don't come good until they reach four."
Night Rogues was making his comeback following a 14-month layoff caused by hairline fractures of his joints.
"He is a very good horse and Charming Rogue could never beat him whenever I put them together on the track," Bailey said.
Charming Rogue was unbeaten in his first seven starts including twice at Rosehill before failing to come up in two runs during the Doomben summer carnival in December.