Mikayla Weir Declared Rising Star Series Winner
Mikayla Weir is the Rising Star Series Champion for the 2020/21 racing season. Weir has been declared the winner of the prestigious apprentice-only series, after accumulating the most points (36) across 11 contested heats.
The Series has been declared following the abandonment of the Rising Star Series Final scheduled for Canterbury Park tonight (February 26th).
Dylan Gibbons has completed an incredible campaign to finish as the runner-up of the Series with 29 points. Gibbons made a remarkable late charge after winning the final heat at Scone (Feb 16) to finish 7 points shy of Weir.
Both Weir and Gibbons were scheduled to contest the Final. With every apprentice, including scratchings, receiving minimum 1 point for contesting each event, Mikayla’s 7 point lead could not be beaten, nor Dylan’s 8 point runner-up gap to third-placed Tyler Schiller.
The Rising Star Series was introduced by Racing NSW back in 2000, with the concept of the series aimed to promote vocational education and training in NSW.
Since its inception, some very talented apprentice jockeys have benefited from Rising Star competition, giving them the opportunities for exposure and experience in competition against their fellow apprentices.
The 2020/21 Series kicked off on Gosford (Dec 2nd) and wrapped up after 16 heats at Scone (Feb 16th), which were contested by 38 apprentice jockeys. Congratulations to all heat winners throughout the Series.