Ronald Simpson's star is on the rise.
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Not only has he recorded winner after winner since returning the saddle, the young jockey is also set to feature in an upcoming film.
Simpson has returned to racing in recent months after more than two years out of the game following an injury suffered in a fall at Coonabarabran.
After some time in Sydney the Brewarrina product moved back to Dubbo and then to the Brett Thompson stables at Gulgong.
The rising apprentice has ridden the last six winners for Thompson in only a matter of weeks, while he also received a very unexpected phone call recently.
"I got the opportunity to play the role of Darby McCarthy in a movie, he was the first Aboriginal in the racing industry and probably one of the best jockeys," Simpson said.
"I accepted. I think I'm playing the middle stage because they'll have the three stages of his life."
Richard 'Darby' McCarthy passed away in early May but was a trailblazer for Indigenous jockeys and he went on to ride more than 1000 winners in Australia and Europe.
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Simpson may only have seven wins to his name this season but it's been enough to make people sit up and take notice.
"Winning is probably the most exciting thing," he said of what he loves.
"The adrenaline when they go past that post, the first fella past that post is just running with mad adrenaline.
"When you get the instructions off the trainer you pretty much just think about what you're going to do, when you're in the barriers you're still thinking about them but when the barriers open up, anything can happen."
Simpson will be looking to add to his tally at Dubbo Turf Club's bumper 10-race Chamber of Commerce meeting on Friday.
He has six rides booked, with four of those for Thompson.
He will contest one of the day's features, taking the sit on the Jim McMillan-trained Harry New Shoes in the $27,000 Winter Country Classic Final (1310m).
After a win at his home track at Wellington two starts back Harry New Shoes ran eighth last time out in one off the two Winter Country Classic heats.
That saw him scrape through to Friday's final, where he drew gate seven.
Of his rides for Thompson, Simpson will again team up with Kookabaa in the Money Quest Open Handicap (1010m) after riding the gelding to back-to-back wins in his past two starts.
He will also ride Thompson's Beau Zariz, a gelding first up from a 24-week spell, Lucky Lucia, and Godfrey Park as well as the Brad Draper-trained Seawatch.
Kookabaa was a $2.90 favourite on Friday morning and while Simpson is every chance of adding to his win tally, Thompson is keeping him grounded.
"He's got to knuckle down and work hard," the trainer said.
"He's got to continue to work out even though he started off with a bang. He's got to be able to produce that every week, every time he goes to the race meetings he's got to be focused, he's got to try and ride at least one winner a week.
"As he rides better, he loses his claim. At the moment he is claiming three [kilos] which makes it easier to win a race. But they have a claim for a reason.
"Everybody knows Ronnie has talent but talent only gets you so far."
Racing starts at 11.05am at Dubbo on Friday.
