Good School For Apprentice Riders

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 276, 11 February 1928, Page 6

Good School For Apprentice Riders

SOUTH AUSTRALIA’S EXPERIENCE AN UNQUALIFIED SUCCESS Some time ago a move was made in South Australia to give apprentices more instruction in the craft of raceriding, and Mr. S. Ferry, a stipendiary steward of the South Australian Jockey Club, and a practical horseman, was apponted instructor. As the scheme has now been in operation for sufficinet time to bear result, and also a*s the riding in New Zealand is not all that it might be, judged on recetn displays, the following report from a Victorian writer is of interest:—— Racing' men in Australia who are deeply interested in the progress of racing are constantly deploring the fact that the jockeys of to-day—taken collectively—do not compare favourably with their brethren of 20 or 30 years ago. In each State of the Commonwealth three or four riders stand above their fellqws, and it has to be said that these riders show marked ability; but there is a wide gulf separating the best riders from the others, and, as fields are gradually increasing, it means that owners and trainers often have to engage riders for their horses who are not competent. Various suggestions have been made to improve the standard of our riders, but it has been left to the racing clubs in South Australia to take definite action. THE SCHEME For some years Ur. A. V. Benson, the chairman of the Fort Adelaide Racing Club, advocated the establishment of a school or class for the teaching of young men who desire to become jockeys. Few racing men agreed with him, but his persistence was at last rewarded, and Mr. S. Ferry, a stipendiary steward to the South Australian Jockey Club, was appointed to instruct apprentices in the art of riding.. The racing clubs of South Australia' were fortunate in their choice. Mr. Ferry is not only a rider of outstanding ability, but he has been associated with all the phases of the racing game, and, in addition, has the ability to explain to the young men in a simple and convincing manner the rudimetns of the art of riding. Mr. Ferry, in his lectures, not only aims to make the apprentices in Adelaide good horsemen, but it is his object to make the youngsters first of all good citizens. He argues—and wisely too—that it is little use teaching a youngster all there is to be known in the art of jockey ship if the boy does not develop into a reputable young man. He consequently not only instructs his class in the art of stable management, the proper method of keeping their gear clean, the method of handing racehorses and their tackling, the use of the whip, the knack of leaving the barrier, how to take fair advantages when riding in races, and the correct method of going to v the post and returning to scale, but he first of all impresses on them the necessity for being clean themselves not only in body but in mind. He has also taught budding South Australian jockeys the meaning of the word discipline. AN UNQUALIFIED SUCCESS

There is no question that the schdol for apprentices has been and will continue to be an unqualified success in Adelaide. Trainers who at first were inclined to be antagonistic, as they imagined it might interfere with their authority over the apprentices, have been completely won over. They are convinced that the youngsters have shown improvement not only in riding skill, but in their general demeanour and their work in the stable. In races the youngsters appear to ride more intelligently, and since the commencement of the school the percentage of wins by apprentices has been particularly high.

A youngster to be a successful jockey must have more than mere riding skill. He must have balance, as unfortunately the tendency of the

present day is to place successful riders on pedestals. They are lionised, and, as J. Fairfax--Blakesborough apty puts it in his interesting book, “The Analysis of the Turf,” it is not the honest admiration and congratulations of men of culture and good breeding which are liable to give jockeys swelled heads, make them above themselves, and eventually utterly destroy them, but the fawning, toadying adulation of spongers, those with axes to grind—the blood-sucking leeches who batten on to the boys just “arriving” and follow them with the unrelenting persistency with which a hungry stoat pursues a rabbit.

Mr. Ferry has two classes—one for the apprentices who are employed by the Morphetville trainers, and another for the youngsters employed by the trainers at Victoria Park He delivers the same lecture to each class, and it is compulsory for the apprentices to attend. Not thart they need much compulsion,, as they are very keen and their enthusiasm is fired by the great interest taken in their progress by numerous men of standing. It would be an excellent plan if a school for apprentices were commenced in Melbourne, and we are sure that the racing atuhorities in Adelaide would be agreeable to Mr. Ferry giving the benefit of his experience to the instructor appointed in Victoria. The V.R.C. committee would be well advised to give the matter earnest consideration.