Where do jockeys sit on the sporting totem pole of legends?
Columnist By Luke Doherty, 2 Nov 2011 Luke Doherty is a Roar Expert
French horse Dunaden (right, yellow silks) ridden by Christophe Lemaire gallops to victory. AAP Image/Julian Smith
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I didn’t bet on Dunaden yesterday. In fact, I told my wife she was also not to put any money on the French horse under any circumstances. Why?
Because I didn’t believe Christophe Lemaire, the hoop who only touched down in Melbourne on Monday afternoon, would have the knowledge to pilot the Geelong Cup winner to victory.
Lemaire was sitting in Japan on the weekend waiting for the outcome of Craig Williams’ hearing for careless riding on Bendigo Cup day.
He wasn’t the first choice to ride, yet triumphed in the closest Melbourne Cup finish ever.
I was left with a new found sense of respect for the silk wearing superstars.
These men, despite their already slender frame, spend Monday to Friday depriving themselves of real food just to make the weight to a ride on a Saturday.
Lemaire knew less about Flemington than any other jockey in the field, yet timed the ride on Dunaden to perfection.
Yes, the horse played its part. But without a class pilot, it can’t win.
It got me thinking about where jockeys sit on our scale of awe.
Most Australians don’t pay much attention to horse racing outside of the Spring carnival when the iconic races occur and won’t realise that the big races continue after Cup day.
But for a couple of weeks every year, we remember the feats of men like Glenn Boss, who made worldwide headlines with Makybe Diva.
When you think of world class athletes, though, would a jockey make your top 20, 50, or even 100?
Tiger Woods has won 14 golf majors. Rod Laver 11 tennis majors. Usain Bolt is a triple Olympic champion. Kelly Slater is on the verge of winning an 11th surfing world title.
Michael Schumacher has 7 Formula One world titles to his name and Michael Jordan is a six-time NBA champion.
These are names that bring about instant recognition anywhere in the world.
You probably wouldn’t find too many 15-year-old boys or girls with posters of Lemaire on their wall.
Does that mean they aren’t regarded as phenomenal athletes? Or are they perhaps the most underrated professionals in sport?
After yesterday, I tend to think the latter.
You can follow Luke on twitter @luke_doherty and on Sky News Australia
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November 2nd 2011 @ 7:54am
BT said | November 2nd 2011 @ 7:54am | Report comment
I agree. They are extremely fit, and probably put their body through more physical torment then any other athlete. In saying that they good ones are very well paid, so probably aren’t complaining!!
November 2nd 2011 @ 3:34pm
Dan said | November 2nd 2011 @ 3:34pm | Report comment
LOL you’re joking right? Jockeys?
Pretty sure a mixed martial artist puts himself through more physical torment in the first 15 seconds of a bout…
November 2nd 2011 @ 9:50am
Brett McKay said | November 2nd 2011 @ 9:50am | Report comment
Luke, they’re incredibly underated professionals, and it shouldn’t be that way. The obvious comparison for jockeys is to racing drivers or motorcycle riders (possibly cyclists, too), but the big variable in this comparison is that cars and bikes don’t have a personality of their own. Cars and bikes don’t have tempormental moments where they’re spooked by a crowd or by the starting grid or even by other bikes and cars. Horses have all these, and a jockey has to not just keep this other personality and living being under control, but to then place themselves and their beast within a pack of other beasts at speed. The adrenline rush alone would be huge.
So jockeys deserve all the praise they get, and most certainly should be rated among the greats in sport. I guess one reason why they’re not is there’s few real ‘international’ opportunities. Yes, there’s big races around the world, but there’s no World Cup, no Olympic Games for jockeys, and so the result is that jockeys are often only rated within their own country.
Glen Boss rode Makybe Diva in her three Melbourne Cup wins and should be held right up there with the Warnes and Hacketts and Lockyers as champion Australians who topped their field. But he’s not, for some reason, and that doesn’t make much sense..
November 2nd 2011 @ 3:32pm
Dan said | November 2nd 2011 @ 3:32pm | Report comment
It makes perfect sense. To be an F1, Motorcycle, NASCAR etc driver you need to have complete control of a powerful machine that is both physically incredibly taxing and also requiring an incredible level of skill and fitness. To be a Jockey you really just need to be short…
I don’t particularly like racing of any sort, but I respect motor-racing drivers because of the incredible speeds they travel at and the power and reflexes that their absolute control over their machines requires. Horse racing to me just seems … stupid.
To me it’s always been this incredibly atavistic practice (I wouldn’t necessarily call it a sport – in the same way I don’t really think of fox hunting or greyhound racing as really qualifying as “sports”) which seems to exist simply so a bunch of middle to upper class people can go dressed in their fanciest clothes so they can entertain their pretensions of sophistication and high society. But in reality they only succeed in proving that it’s just as easy to get hammered and lose your money in a suit or dress as it is in any other attire.
November 3rd 2011 @ 12:48pm
jameswm said | November 3rd 2011 @ 12:48pm | Report comment
Brett
Glen Boss up there with Warne, Hackett and Lockyer?
Pull the other one. I don’t remember seeing Boss running round that track. He guided the horse, who did all the hard work. Would the Diva have won all 3 with someone else on her? Probably.
Yes Boss has skill and courage. But don’t put him anywhere near those Aussie sporting legends.
November 2nd 2011 @ 9:56am
sheek said | November 2nd 2011 @ 9:56am | Report comment
Luke,
Likewise I went cold on Dunaden when Williams’ suspension was confirmed. But Christophe Lemaire showed why he is considered one of the world’s best jockeys. What an awesome ride, & what a race. Imagine traveling 3200m & winning by a nostril.
I should have learnt my lesson back in 2006. Back then, probably like a lot of other people, I preferred Damien Oliver’s mount Pop Rock to his stablemate Delta Blues, on the basis that Oliver had form & knowledge of both Flemington & the cup, while the other rider, Japanese Yasunari Iwata, didn’t.
It didn’t matter at the end, with Delta Blues winning by a narrow half-head.
It’s a bit of a quirk of history that Lemaire is far from the first jockey to win the Melbourne Cup on his first ride at Flemington, or as a last minute engagement. Clerk of the course John Letts, who won two cups on Piping Lane (1972) & Beldale Ball (1980), had never been to Flemington, let alone ridden there prior to his 1972 success.
Internationally acclaimed jockey Pat Glennon, won both his Melbourne Cups courtesy of last-minute engagements, & the Cummings name was prominent on both occasions. In 1950 Comic Court’s regular jockey Jack Purtell, was injured in a Saturday Derby day fall, & out of the cup.
Bart’s father Jim, the trainer of Comic Court, sent for fellow South Australian, jockey Pat Glennon. Glennon piloted Comic Court to victory despite it being both his first time at Flemington, & first & only ride on Comic Court.
As for Purtell, don’t feel sorry for him because he won 3 cups anyway – with Hiraji (1947), Wodalla (1953) & Rising Fast (1954). Ironically, Purtell’s ride on Rising Fast in 1954 was a last minute call-up with regular jockey Bill Williamson long-term injured, & his replacement Arthur Ward also suffering injury before the cup.
In 1959, Bart Cummings’ then regular stable jockey Ron Hutchinson had the choice of rides between Cummings horse Trellios & another mount MacDougall. On the Saturday derby day, Hutchinson rode both horses to victory.
Hutchinson rode Trellios to victory in the Mackinnon, & then immediately secured the ride for the cup. Later in the day, he rode macdougall to victory in the Hotham (now the Lexus) & confided the latter win had been superior. Which goes to show you should never make decisions too hastily!
Anyway, the connections called for Glennon over in Adelaide, & he went on to win his 2nd cup, again riding the horse for the first & only time. Trellios the favourite, finished 5th. Hutchinson never won the cup, but he had two 3rd placings.
Yes, jockeys are incredible athletes actually, probably among the strongest around in terms of strength to weight ratio. And the dedication required to keep their weight down, & front-up for pre-dawn training rides requires enormous self-discipline. And of course, every time they hop on a horse for a race, it is potentially life-threatening.
I have the greatest admiration for them.
November 2nd 2011 @ 11:25am
Australian Rules said | November 2nd 2011 @ 11:25am | Report comment
Nice one Sheek.
I too went cold on Dunaden and for whatever reason ignored his Geelong Cup form and the fact that he’d beaten Americain twice in 2011.
Whilst I agree wholeheartedly with the article (that jockeys do not enjoy the respect and acclaim afforded to other athletes), I believe there are some horses (only an elite few) who can consign a jockeys to the status of mere ‘passenger’. Glenn Boss said as much after his 3rd win on Makybe Diva. Similarly, horses like Phar Lap, Tulloch, Bernborough and Kingston Town could have had just about anyone on top and still won. But it’s the exception not the rule.
The difficulty with elevating jockeys to the global star status of Jordan, Woods, Federer, Slater, Bolt etc is that jockeys cannot ride winners all the time…the nature of their craft is that they must ride inferior horses as well as elite ones, and in inferior races as well as Group 1s, meaning their achievements are not necessarily tarnished but appear less flawless than those of the noted athletes above.
For similar reasons, it would be difficult to imagine how a jockey could “change the sport”…or take it to the next level, as Jordan, Woods, Federer, Slater, Bolt have done in their respective sports. An athlete’s ability to permanently alter their sport is a genuien indication of greatness (golf courses being Tiger-proofed, F1 Rule-changes to stem Ferrari/Schumacher, Kelly Slater re-setting the bar on pro-surfing is, Bolt getting quicker and quicker etc).
All that said, jockeys are incredibly tough athletes in one of the most physically demanding and dangerous sports on the planet.
November 2nd 2011 @ 1:16pm
Al said | November 2nd 2011 @ 1:16pm | Report comment
Re: Kelly Slater and surfing. Any activity that has an objective goal (such as scoring more points/goals, finishing a race with the fastest time/hitting the least amount of strokes) is a sport. Any activity that is subjective, that is there is a judge which decides who wins based on loosely defined criteria and on merit is not a sport, hence surfing is not a sport and thus it is an affront to real sports people to include a surfer in a list of best “sports” people.
November 15th 2011 @ 9:26pm
Ian Whitchurch said | November 15th 2011 @ 9:26pm | Report comment
Al,
You have a point, in that anything that needs a judge belongs in an eisteddford.
But I ask you to watch this, of what I can call ,with all honesty, a killer break (Briece Taerea RIP).
Is it such an affront to put him with Joe Frazier, or Jack Hobbs, or Jim Thrope, or Garrincha ?
November 2nd 2011 @ 1:49pm
The Barry said | November 2nd 2011 @ 1:49pm | Report comment
AR – funny you mention Geelong Cup form. Last year I put a line through Americain because while it won the Geelong Cup impressively I wasn’t convinced that form would stand up.
No way was I making the same mistake this year and was all over Dunedan despite the change in jockeys.
As for jockeys they are absolute elite athletes. They don’t just waste to make the weight on saturdays – most jockeys ride daily. The wasting process to make weights is incredibly dangerous and takes immense discipline. They have no off season. They risk crippling injuries every time they ride and quite literally put their lives on the line.
I think the reason they’re not as acclaimed as other athletes is because we can all aspire to be Woods or Federer every time we swing a club or a racquet, Schumacher every time we drive to the shops, Slater when we paddle out the back, etc. Not many people jump on a horse on the weekends so we relate to jockeys very indirectly.
I love racing but I reckon I’ve ridden maybe half a dozen times in my life.
November 2nd 2011 @ 12:27pm
Diora Baird said | November 2nd 2011 @ 12:27pm | Report comment
Horse racing is not a sport, it’s gambling.Horses are the athletes, not the jockeys.
November 2nd 2011 @ 1:33pm
Sean said | November 2nd 2011 @ 1:33pm | Report comment
You can gamble on a lot of sports…..
November 2nd 2011 @ 2:41pm
gb said | November 2nd 2011 @ 2:41pm | Report comment
the question is, would people watch racing if you couldn’t bet on it…
November 2nd 2011 @ 4:46pm
The Barry said | November 2nd 2011 @ 4:46pm | Report comment
I regularly watch the races without having a bet.
If I can’t afford to have a punt I still watch races and follow the sport.
November 2nd 2011 @ 5:06pm
apaway said | November 2nd 2011 @ 5:06pm | Report comment
I almost guarantee that if gambling on horseracing was outlawed, it would disappear. It is the only sport that exists exclusively BECAUSE of gambling.
November 2nd 2011 @ 11:07pm
Tony said | November 2nd 2011 @ 11:07pm | Report comment
No doubt there, the concern is that you needed to even say that. To glorify jockey’s is plain absurd, they are unquestionably the bottom of the sporting totem pole. It’s a great gambling occasion and Australians are the world’s best at gambling away there monies.
November 3rd 2011 @ 12:51pm
jameswm said | November 3rd 2011 @ 12:51pm | Report comment
100% agree with Diora. The horses are the athletes, not the jockeys.
November 15th 2011 @ 9:28pm
Ian Whitchurch said | November 15th 2011 @ 9:28pm | Report comment
Jameswm,
Why, then, are we so concerned with Des Hasler and whoever the heck it is coaching Australia ?
November 2nd 2011 @ 12:45pm
Jeb said | November 2nd 2011 @ 12:45pm | Report comment
No doubt they’re fantastic athletes. Not only do they push their bodies to the limit on an ongoing basis but this discipline comes from a very young age.
I’ve got a silly question that’s a lot off topic – has any well known jockey ever crossed over into the world of equestrian sport (as in jumping, cross-country, dressage)??
November 2nd 2011 @ 1:12pm
Al said | November 2nd 2011 @ 1:12pm | Report comment
The fact that a jockey can come in and within 24 hours, race on a horse he has never rode, at a track he has never been to and win indicates to me that the jockey plays minimal part. Yes they need to work hard to maintain the proper weight however ultimately the horse is the “athlete”.
November 2nd 2011 @ 4:27pm
George said | November 2nd 2011 @ 4:27pm | Report comment
If Christophe Lemaire rode Modun it wouldn’t have won. I would suggest if he rode anything but Dunaden he would not have been first past the post. The horse is the star here. Jockey’s are no doubt fine athletes, they need to be fit, smart and competitive but will never make my greatest athlete list.
November 2nd 2011 @ 7:36pm
Alfred Chan said | November 2nd 2011 @ 7:36pm | Report comment
They are super athletes, but more on the mental side than the physical side. They’re kinda in the same category as F1 drivers. They put their bodies through rigorous training but audiences don’t have a clue how physically demanding their performances are.
After Stathi Katsidis’ death last year, there was an interview with one of his friends (may have been Kieran McEvoy) who went into detail the regular day of a hoop. They would be up at 3am if they we’re scheduled for trackwork, otherwise 6am. Breakfast was half a poached egg and a slice of plain toast and a cup of tea. Lunch was an apple with a glass of water and dinner would be about half a bowl of plain white rice. In between, they would have daily steamroom sessions, jogging 5km per day and swimming another 1km.
What these guys do is impossible for regular people. Also, as a sport based mainly in country towns, there is a helluva lot of driving to get between country race meets, many of whom never make it to the metropolitan stage but continue to make very average money in one of the most dangerous sports in the world.
They’re discipline is underrated.
November 2nd 2011 @ 8:07pm
Dan said | November 2nd 2011 @ 8:07pm | Report comment
The thing is Alfred, is that kind of physical regime is just unnatural and unhealthy… so much so that it reads like a reverse “sumo” life-style. Sure they need discipline, but in terms of your overall well being, you’d be much better off using that discipline to train to be an iron man and eat a highly nutritious diet on a grazing time-table.
November 3rd 2011 @ 9:04am
Benz said | November 3rd 2011 @ 9:04am | Report comment
Most Jockeys ride equestrian before they get their apprenticeships. A jockey’s final effort is a result of an immense team effort and takes many hours without their involvement. jockeys are bought on in the last moment to steer the horse. No jockey can make a horse run faster however much they try, they can only give them the best chance of running a good race. In a race like the Melbourne cup it takes as much luck as it does a good ride and a good horse. Did anyone notice where Americain had to come from to run 4th? Jockeys live in a different world to the rest of us. It is physically and emotionally punishing and they are elite athletes but their is a reason they aren’t counted among Australia’s greatest athletes and that’s probably that they are only as good as the horse they are sitting on. To say what Glen Boss did with Makybe Diva was a brilliant effort is ridiculous. He got the ride, that was good work. It was his cup to lose on Makybe Diva.
November 3rd 2011 @ 9:04am
Benz said | November 3rd 2011 @ 9:04am | Report comment
Most Jockeys ride equestrian before they get their apprenticeships. A jockey’s final effort is a result of an immense team effort and takes many hours without their involvement. jockeys are bought on in the last moment to steer the horse. No jockey can make a horse run faster however much they try, they can only give them the best chance of running a good race. In a race like the Melbourne cup it takes as much luck as it does a good ride and a good horse. Did anyone notice where Americain had to come from to run 4th? Jockeys live in a different world to the rest of us. It is physically and emotionally punishing and they are elite athletes but their is a reason they aren’t counted among Australia’s greatest athletes and that’s probably that they are only as good as the horse they are sitting on. To say what Glen Boss did with Makybe Diva was a brilliant effort is ridiculous. He got the ride, that was good work. It was his cup to lose on Makybe Diva.