FROM THE SHERIFF'S DESK: FEMALE RIDERS SET TO TRIFECTA BRISBANE APPRENTICE PREMIERSHIP

By John Schreck | Saturday, July 1, 2017

John Schreck, a former Chief Steward in both Sydney and Hong Kong, has seen both the colourful and the dark sides of racing. His wealth of experience and his deep knowledge of racing matters across the board is unquestioned and the reputation he built as a racing ‘lawman’ remains firmly entrenched in racing’s history. Schreck’s personal blog, ‘From the Sheriff’s Desk', appears exclusively on HRO.

The Apprentice Premiership table in Brisbane makes interesting reading with three female riders about to claim the trifecta ... which would be an historical outcome.

Tiffani Brooker, Alannah Fancourt and Rebecca Williams hold down those positions and all have respectable strike rates of around thirteen percent. Further to that, at the time of writing, the top ten apprentices in Brisbane have ridden a combined total of 146 winners with female riders accounting for 101 of those victories.

All credit to them.

That situation, coupled with the fact that female rider numbers are reportedly outpacing males in the apprentice intakes, has prompted a reader to ask the question, should we be concerned about the declining number of male apprentices in comparison to their female counterparts?

The short answer to that is yes we should ... but, personally, I don’t think it matters if we have more females becoming good jockeys than males. Women are now high up or at the top of their professions in all walks of life and it must be remembered that in racing they compete on a level playing field with their male counterparts ... one of the few sports in the world where that happens.

There are a couple of probable reasons for the swing in the gender balance in terms of race riding.

Firstly, the increasing physical size of the male population plays a part ... and, secondly, there is the reluctance on the part of a lot of young men to do the work that is required anymore. In some ways you can’t blame them for being reluctant to take on a three o’clock start but all the good apprentices that I have ever seen have come through right from the hard-working grass roots level and that entry level is not acceptable to a lot of people these days.

I do appreciate the fact that the amount of hard work around the stable is not as much as it used to be because there are so many more race meetings at which jockeys have to ride.

There are just not enough hours in the day to get up a three o’clock, do boxes, ride work, travel to race meetings, come home and walk horses ... as they used to do ... but, although the specifics may now be very different, being a jockey remains a very tough profession with a demanding lifestyle and there are apparently not as many males up for it as there have been in the past.

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It would be an interesting case study to see how many premiership winning apprentices have gone on to be metropolitan premiership winning jockeys.

I can’t think of that many and I would wonder why?

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Another question from an HRO reader: As far as jockeys betting on races is concerned, is a bet not a bet and if so, why did an apprentice recently get a three month suspension for betting as opposed to the eighteen months penalty handed down to James McDonald?

Firstly, the two riders in question were charged under different sub sections of AR 83.

In almost any case where penalties have to be imposed one of the things that is always considered is the consequential effects ... and the consequential effects of the betting of the young fellow in Brisbane is considerably less than the consequential effects of the McDonald case ... or the Oliver case before that ... where there was betting in significant amounts on the races in which they were riding.

The two cases reflect vastly different circumstances.

The apprentice penalised was not riding, was apparently bored and was taking small bets to fill in his time. That is day and night when compared to the McDonald and Oliver cases and the penalties imposed accurately reflect that.

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The recent indications that Tabcorb and Tatts will get together is big news both in the business world and the racing world.

I personally have always been vehemently opposed to monopolies and this looks like it could be one all over again. However, many people will tell you that the organisation will continue to face competition from corporates and I hope that is the case.

There will have to be a lot of fence building in Victoria as the administrators there were strongly against the merger. In not many years down the track the license will come up for renewal in VictorIa and it is to be hoped that there is some competition at that time in relation to that license.

If there is just one organisation bidding for the license that will clearly be bad for racing in Victoria and that would be bad for racing in the nation.

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Good on Racing Queensland for taking the progressive step of raising prize-money.

Even though that increase is minor in the grand scheme of things it is a welcome step in the right direction. Also, Queensland Racing must be doing something right because the field sizes continue to hold up well ... bearing in mind that field sizes in New South Wales, which Queensland is often compared to unfavourably, are not so good.

So hopefully an increase in stakes, albeit a modest one, will continue to attract owners to race in Queensland.

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Confirmation this week that Chris Waller will open up a permanent stable in Queensland.

Mr Waller’s empire is growing and good luck to him. He is obviously a very efficient manager and he has obviously got good people around him.

He is having a lot of success so why not spread his wings!

The success of any satellite stable depends very much on the quality of the staff who are running the show on behalf of the licensed trainer.

I think Mr Waller has shown that he can not only train racehorses but he can train his staff as well.

It’s more competition for trainers in Queensland but the presence of people like Mr Waller will attract the attention of owners to South East Queensland racing and nothing but good can come from that increased exposure.

More exposure hopefully leads to more turnover.

More turnover means more money for the sport.

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The tragic death of Donna Philpot in a track-work accident at Bendigo earlier this week yet again brought the sad reminder that riding and working with racehorses is an inherently dangerous business.

My condolences go out to the family and to the racing community at large for their tragic loss.

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