BEN'S BEAT: APPRENTICES ON THE CHARGE ... BUT WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO SUCCEED?
By Ben Saunders | Tuesday, August 27, 2019
In this edition of Ben’s Beat, the personal blog of Ben Saunders, Ben gives his view of the road all apprentice jockeys hope to take in making their way to becoming a fully-fledged city rider … mentioning some of the many challenges which face a young rider on that journey. Here, Ben uses the paths followed by two current boom apprentices, who both cut their teeth in Toowoomba, as a sounding board for the overall big picture. This is Ben’s Beat, which appears exclusively on HRO.
All jockeys have got to be fully prepared to take the next step as they move from one phase of their career to another.
For apprentices, when they go from country to provincial to city racing, everybody expects them to have put in the hard yards and done their homework.
The simple bottom line of that progression is that you have got to be a better rider to be able to be allowed to tick off each of the steps along the way.
And, for those who ultimately want to be the best they can be, it goes beyond race riding ability.
They have to have good knowledge of racing in general and they have to be good form students … not only of horses they are riding but, importantly, also of their competition.
Now both Baylee Nothdurft and Nick Keal are working very well in that regard. They are both very knowledgable in terms what they are about and they are diligent in their homework and preparation.
Baylee, who graduated to the city in January, is a very good form boy. I think he got some of that from the Lindsay Hatch stable connection.
If you took into consideration the Hatch stable runners to winners, they were running a very good strike rate … so, Baylee was in a good position to know the quality of horse he wished to ride compared to the opposition.
The rides you wish to ride … well, that will come out in the rides you chase, so, being a good form student is an integral part of maximising your rate of progress.
The progression is obviously easier if you are getting on handy horses … and Nick as well, like Baylee, is has been very good in plotting his path ahead.
Of course, sometimes, all of that planning and knowledge of your horse and those in opposition, can play against you when a race doesn’t go the way it appeared it would on paper … but both boys always seem to have a Plan B up their sleeves, which is another essential attribute that also needs to be worked on.
This is why they are doing so well … and that is without even mentioning how competitive they are, not only generally but amongst themselves.
Baylee and Nick have always had that competitive nature against one another. They almost really kicked off together since they were going around the bullring. It all sort of started there. They’d niggle each other.
They’ve actually had their moments of being over-zealous against each other on the track … but, in a way, I’m sure all of this has improved both of their understanding of what it takes to make your way forward in this game.
It’s all about learning and adapting every step of the way.
There is just so much to learn and it is an on-going challenge. Along the way they will learn about how to judge the pace of a race, about the positioning of horses to their best advantage and so many others things.
It is difficult to describe but it becomes a ‘knowing,’ … or an instinct of knowing if you like, for example, of knowing when your horse is travelling well etc. That education is never complete though. You have to keep on learning as you go.
By the time they get to town the riders will have gained a better idea of what race riding is all about. They need that to ride with the city boys and girls who will be expected nothing less of them.
They ride tighter in the city but they ride safer because each of those senior riders know exactly what is expected of each other … and the new rider in town would have need to have done his homework and preparation well otherwise any shortcomings will be quickly found out.
While I have described a fairly well laid out and accepted path of progression for the apprentice rider, it is almost as difficult as it is clear-cut. It is no gimme.
You have to earn your passage every part of the way.
Which is why we might have to consider that both boys, Baylee and Nick, might be exceptional.
Winners get confidence and they are getting winners. They are not sneaking races. They are winning races well, but they haven’t got there blindly. They have been pulling all of the different aspects I mentioned above together and working hard on their end goal.
They won’t necessarily be above ability compared to a lot of riders but they have created an edge which has served them well.
All credit to them.
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*Baylee Nothdurft won the 2018/19 Brisbane Apprentice Jockey Premiership after only riding in the city for a little over six months of the season. Nick Keal only recently started Metropolitan riding and immediately made an impact by winning on four of his first thirteen rides.
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