THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - FEMALE INFLUENCE A GROWING FORCE WITHIN RIDING RANKS

By Graham Potter | Sunday, February 17, 2013

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily

When Tegan Harrison drove Bid Spotter to victory at Eagle Farm last week, she broke the record for the most number of Metropolitan wins scored by a female rider in a season in Brisbane.

The previous record of thirty-seven wins had stood for ten years behind the name of Lacey Morrison and the fact that Harrison managed to eclipse that mark with only a little over half the season completed underlines the strong pace she has been setting in her first full season in the city.

Harrison is currently bolting home In the Brisbane Apprentices Premiership, where her thirty-eighth win took her number of victories to double that of her nearest challenger and she is also currently running a strong second to Michael Cahill in the Brisbane Jockeys’ Premiership.

Add in the fact that last season Harrison rode more winners than any other apprentice in the land and it is clear that here is a young rider on the march. She is intelligent, focussed, hard-working and, perhaps this is her greatest asset, she has a serious intention to learn and to improve her level of expertise in the saddle. That is a mind-set there that separates achievers from wannabees.

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While racing is an individual sport, Harrison’s success, in the broader sense, has made her the focal point of a new wave of female riders making their mark in Queensland.

The question now is whether Harrison can go on to ultimately help break the mould on one of the oldest ‘givens’ in racing, namely that trainers will generally use lady riders while they are a claiming apprentice, but drop them when they lose that weight advantage.

Shane Scriven, who has taken on the role of Jockeys’ Advocate with Racing Queensland since his retirement from race-riding, has a clear opinion on the subject.

“I do think Tegan has a burden on her shoulders. It will be up to her to continue to ride in the form she is in at the moment to be the flag-bearer for the female jockeys,” Scriven said candidly. “If she can do that … and I’m sure she can, that will go a long way to changing trainers’ perception of how trainers view riders’ strengths.

“Tegan, in fact, is already on her way to ensuring that shift in thinking. She is near the top of the leader-board in the Ipswich Premiership and she hasn’t been able to claim there the whole season.

“I’ll admit that it wasn’t that long ago when I was dubious about the role of female riders. You know, jockeys have got half-a-ton of racehorse to look after and the traditional view was that you required a lot of strength to be an accomplished jockey but that idea, like the whole aspect of racing, has changed.

“It’s not such a strength thing anymore. Whereas the boys might have the strength, the girls have got the finesse.

‘The girls are coming through in numbers now. People have a different view of weight issues related to health these days.

"That is just a sign of the times so, because of their natural lighter weight, the number of female riders will continue to increase and their impact on the game will become stronger.”

So it is that the female riders are literally becoming the changing front-line face of a changing industry.

In coming years, it will be fascinating to watch their influence grow and the impact their progression will have on changing old, established views.

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