BROWNIE'S BLOG - ON RIDING STYLES, THE CHALLENGE FROM APPRENTICES AND RACE SCHEDULE CHANGES

By Damian Browne | Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Damian Browne is rated right up there with the best jockeys in Australia. After severe injury setbacks which would have ended a lesser man’s career, this eleven-time Group 1 winning jockey has fought back against the odds to establish a solid reputation both as a person ... through the calm, confident and professional manner in which he goes about his business ... and as a rider, where he has built an enviable race record largely courtesy of his exceptional expertise as a horseman. Damian’s column, ‘Brownies Blog’, will appear weekly on Wednesdays ... exclusive to HRO!

The main feedback from my first column last week centred on my riding style and how styles do differ from rider to rider.

Right from the start every rider has to try to develop a style that they think will suit them. The major influence I think is who you choose to watch at the start of your career.

I watched two guys, Chris Johnson and Grant Davison. One was a brilliant rider and one was an extremely polished rider.

They had two contrasting styles ... I sort of took a bit out of both of those and then worked on developing my own style from there.

I used to watch Brett Prebble a lot as well early on. I was in Melbourne at the same time as him when he was an apprentice.

It does come down to a personal preference. I might think something is a good riding style and try to learn from it and refine it to my needs.

Other people might think differently.

I didn’t have any real difficulty in following the style that I wanted to adopt because I was always conscious about it right from the start.

If you look good on a horse that is half the battle. Some people could be riding the horses very well but look terrible on them and trainers might look at them and say, aah no ... I don’t want to put them on.

So it was a conscious decision right from the start for me. It’s like dressing well when you come to the races. You create a good impression.

My first boss, Ned Thistoll ... he was a great mentor of jockeys in New Zealand, always told me if you can’t ride at least look the part.

So, it’s been a conscious thing for me, particularly early on, when you really need to promote yourself by at least looking good at what you are doing.

Some jockey’s don’t really worry about styles. They just worry about getting the job done.

You’ve got to allow for the fact that everybody is built differently too. Taller blokes might find getting down very low in the saddle more difficult, or more uncomfortable, than a jockey who is shorter.

It really is just a matter of trying to get into a nice rhythm with the horse. That’s what’s served me well throughout.

As I said last week, I always tried to sit as still as I can on them. I try to think of it more like a runner carrying a backpack or something like that.

You would want it to be still as it could be on your back while you are running rather than trying to jump all over you ... so it doesn’t negatively impact on your performance.

I know it is different because a horse is usually carrying 55kg less but, it is interesting when they lose their jockey at the start, they invariably win the race.

They obviously know what they are doing, so it is just a matter of staying on them and directing them on the right path ... more or less trying to make the horse feel like you are not there.

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The question of the large number of apprentices riding in Brisbane has posed a bit of a problem for some senior riders, although securing rides in general, and obviously particularly the better rides, has always been a competitive situation.

I’m not worried about whether there is an unusual imbalance there or not because it is something that is in play and we all have to cope with it.

In some races in a ten horse field, for example, we’ve had six to eight apprentices riding.

I can think of two situations immediately where apprentices are of value.

On wet tracks, and we’ve had our share of those, trainers are trying to keep the weight off the backs of their horses ... and also, as the weights have gone up over the years people are more inclined to claim.

At the end of the day owners and trainers have got the option of their preference between senior riders and apprentices, as it has always been.

Sometimes they’ll put a young rider on and go for a senior next time one and visa-versa.

As a rider, it’s not your decision so you can’t worry about it.

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The other thing where we, as riders, just have to get on with the job and not get too involved is with the regard to the debate about the concern of the state of the tracks at the moment.

Apart from the race-day situation itself, our opinions is not really going to change anything ... but everybody does have an opinion!

Obviously, the current situation is disappointing.

Particularly leading into the carnival where it is not ideal to get horses ready with meetings getting called off.

On the other side of the coin, overuse of the tracks is obviously not what you are looking for either.

There is going to be a lot of racing at Doomben during the carnival, but we knew that was going to happen when they closed Eagle Farm.

Again we’ll just have to cope with it as best we can.

Till next week,

Damian

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