Born into a New Zealand racing family in 1966, Shane Dye received early prominence as an apprentice jockey and has rarely been out of the headlines since.
In his first full season as an apprentice in 1982-83, Dye rode a record 78 winners. He was again a leading apprentice in 1983-84, and achieved his first Group 1 success on Cariere in the Avondale Cup. In 1985 he accepted an offer to ride in Australia, and was third on the NSW jockeys’ premiership list with 54 wins in his first season.
Dye quickly established his credentials as leading jockey and in 1990-91 headed the premiership list with 106 wins. He was particularly effective as a big race rider at the major carnivals. In 1989 he won the first of his four successive Golden Slipper Stakes on Courtza, as well as the Melbourne Cup on Tawrrific. In 1996-97 he won 35 Group and Listed races, including a record 13 at Group 1 level, and took out his second NSW jockeys’ premiership. At the end of the 1998-99 season, his feature race wins totalled 289, with 91 at Group 1 level.
In 2000, Dye moved to Hong Kong where he continued his successful riding career. He returned to ride in Australiain the 2008-09 season.
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