The Roar asked me to look at how trainers choose the right jockey for their horse. It’s an interesting question because times are rapidly changing.
Gai Waterhouse followed her father’s tradition of only letting jockeys who turn up to ride trackwork.
Chris Waller employs the top five jockeys. John Size wouldn’t and won’t use apprentices.
Every trainer has a different methodology and a different approach, but at the end of the day, everyone wants to pick the best available jockey for the job.
Sometimes you might have a speed horse and you’ll be looking for a jockey who’s very good out of the barriers. Some owners might want a certain jockey on board and will push hard for that, in consultation with the trainer or not.
Many trainers will be loyal to their track work riders.
But times are changing across the board. It’s more business now. And one aspect is the surge of female riders, who must just about outnumber the blokes now.
Go to pony club, and what do you see? It’s all girls! They are the ones learning to ride young and getting a feel for the thrill of riding.
I was at a country meeting out this way recently and there might have been half a dozen male jockeys in their spacious jockey room. The problem was there were more than a dozen female riders in their tiny jockey room. They were crammed in with very little room.
One line going around is that clubs might have to swap the names on the rooms – but in all seriousness, it’s a fact and it’s something I’ve been saying for a while.
Weight is an issue and the girls obviously have a different physiology to the blokes. But weight has always been an issue. So are blokes just getting lazy, and don’t want to do the hard yards to make it? It’s hard to say.
Attitudes might have to change with it – female jockeys are just as capable, if not more so.
And while times do change, we still have to keep giving young riders a chance. Only recently I put a young guy on at Kilcoy, who is still pretty raw. He did everything right on the day, the horse just wasn’t good enough. I know what it’s like to be a jockey and provided riders are doing the right things day in and day out, the chance might come up.
In terms of my stable, I’ve got a number of young horses going through their paces but action on the track is quieter.
Munce Racing has two going around on the Sunshine Coast tomorrow, both in the right races.
Twisted Mountain is an extremely good horse on his day, but he’s a funny one. He won his maiden by 10 lengths at Eagle Farm, but won a couple since then. The trick with him is ensuring he’s feeling confident at the races.
Coopertown is coming back from a wind operation. He’s getting fitter and we’ll see how he measures up tomorrow.
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