Real Try-Out Is Given Apprentices

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 350, 10 May 1928, Page 6

Real Try-Out Is Given Apprentices

The committee of the Australian Jockey Club is to be commended on its decision to provide a stiffer test than was previously set for apprentices who wish to obtain permission to ride in races. Instead of merely galloping past a stipendiary steward and showing that they can sit on a horse, they will have to_ pass two tests from barrier starts, in which at least six horses must compete. It is no reflection on the stewards to say that under the old requirements a number of incapable boys were able to secure their permits, and then to ride in races to the danger of other runners. Almost any boy could pass that test, as all he had to do was to sit still on the galloping horse, and so long as he did not give a display of his inability by trying to ride out hfs mount with whip or heels, nobody could be expected to find a fault. It sometimes happened that the same stewards who had passed a boy as fit to ride in races would afterwards take away his permit on the grounds of incompetence.

Now the qfficials will be able to make certam of a boy’s ability, as there is nothing like a barrier start, with horses jostling all around him, for testing a boy’s capabilities, comments a Sydney writer.