LARRY'S VIEW - THE APPRENTICE SET-UP, DO THEY GET IT TOO SOFT THESE DAYS?

By Larry Cassidy | Friday, July 22, 2011

Larry Cassidy currently has forty-two Group 1 successes behind his name. He is a multiple Premiership winning jockey having taken out three titles in Sydney and one in Brisbane. Larry’s View, the personal blog of this top class rider will appear on horseracingonly.com.au every Friday, workload permitting.

Several readers have asked my opinion of the situation regarding apprentice jockeys compared to when I did my time. It appears that many of you out there believe they get it too soft these days and that shows adversely in both their overall results and the number of quality riders coming through the system these days.

I am quite happy to give that comparison but, before doing that, we all must acknowledge the fact we are now living in a different era. From my perspective though, I have no doubt that some of the ‘old-school’ ways could … and possibly should … be put to good use in the present day environment.

I was obviously apprenticed in New Zealand and I was lucky in one way because I did my apprenticeship with a gentleman Brett Beattie and he only had three or four horses in work. I actually lived with him and his wife from when I was about twelve years old.

I would start work in the stables at four o’clock in the morning. I would work through until seven-thirty. I would then have to bike ride home and then get to school. I would have to bike ride … it was about a 15km bike ride to school … and then get back to the stables as early as I could … by about four o’clock … and I would be home at six.

I would only have to muck out a couple of boxes and I rode seven or eight horses in work, but it was a pretty long day.

Living with the boss and his wife I had a very good-bringing. We were always taught … that is my generation was always taught … you dress and act like you can ride whether you can or not. You speak when you are spoken to and everything is ‘yes please’ and ‘no thank you.’ Always respect your elders. That’s the way we were brought up. That’s the way I bring my children up.

As for apprentices these days, I think they get too much rein. It was nothing for us to get a clip around the ear or a kick up the bum. With my boss and his wife, I was like their son, but they would give me a kick up the bum if I did anything wrong.

I think pulling kids into line is something that is lacking these days. That strict discipline of the past is missing now. There was no going out to a night club until you were twenty. You were at home and you were in bed by eight-thirty at night. You either wanted to be a jockey or you wanted to be a party-boy … one or the other. There is nothing inbetween.

I know you can’t do it these days, but I think a clip around the ear or a kick up the bum is worth its weight in gold.

Apprentice school in New Zealand was also very good.

It was held once a fortnight. In our area, which was the Central Districts, they would come from within a two-and-a-half hour to three hour radius. They would get bussed in.

It was once a fortnight. We had the police come in to talk about drugs. We had paramedics come … we all got our CPR course done. We held mock enquiries. They had a horse there that you could get on and show whip style. We watched videos.

Apparently … I was told this, that today when the apprentices do certain courses, they get them ticked off and they don’t have to do them again. Now, in my time in New Zealand, when you were an apprentice, you had to go to apprentice school right up until you finished your apprenticeship … whether you did the same thing year after year. That was it.

So, yeah, I would say apprentices do get it too soft these days.

With regard to the number of quality riders coming through the system these days I think the way the world is now, people, in general, are bigger than they were in the past so it is now a very small pool of children that actually could be jockeys.

It is an even smaller pool of those who even think about it … and it is even smaller again of those or even want to and then only a small percentage of those give it a full go.

So given the odds against potential apprentices in terms of those reduced numbers alone, it is not surprising that there will be times with apprentices when quality is hard to find and maybe their results won’t be that flash.

For all that, I can recommend being a jockey. It’s been a rewarding life for me. I travelled the world. I’ve met some great people and I’ve got to ride some champion horses.

My son is already taller than me. He is fourteen and he is 50kgs. He hasn’t a hope of being a jockey.

My daughter … she is only eight … I think she wants to be a jockey. If she wants to be I will certainly help her.

Old-school or present time, the same principle applies. If you have got the right attitude towards it, you can certainly make a very good living and have a great life on top of it.

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