BROWNIES'S BLOG: APPRENTICE'S STANDARDS ... FROM SCHOOL TO THE TRACK ... IMPROVEMENTS ARE NEEDED

By Damian Browne | Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Brownie’s Blog is the weekly blog of multiple Group 1 winning jockey Damian Browne. In this edition Brownie gives his view on the current hot topic of apprentice riding standards and the role of the apprentice school in Queensland. This Brownie’s Blog – exclusive to HRO.

Hall Of Fame jockey Brent Thomson knows a thing or two about race-riding so when he feels strongly enough about the poor quality of rides at a Queensland meeting to come out and say, ‘I don’t know what they do with apprentices but it doesn’t seem to be working’ … it really should serve as a big wake up call for local authorities.

Thomson didn’t dwell on the negative. He pointed out it was a matter that could be improved and he offered his help as part of the solution. Racing Queensland CEO Brendon Parnell’s response was he was happy to take feedback and that he was open to having talks with Thomson.

So, my question to Brendon Parnell is … it is all very well saying that, but are you actually going to make the phone call? It shouldn’t be for Brent Thomson to have to come to you. He’s identified a problem and offered assistance. Have you made the call?

You only get what you pay for I guess and if Racing Queensland aren’t prepared to put the money up and get the right people in the job … like a Brent Thomson for instance, then it is not going to work.

To be fair, they have Shane Scriven … you probably couldn’t get anybody better than Scrivo … but I’m guessing his hands were tied in many ways as to what he could do if we are getting this sort of result … which brings us to the second essential ingredient if Racing Queensland is going to get this right.

Getting the right people in the job is the first priority but, beyond that, the system … the training program itself … also has to be right to give apprentices all of the tools they need to be able to further their respective careers.

Remember the prime responsibility of the Apprentice School is to turn of professional jockeys with all of the attributes that the word ‘professional’ encompasses.

Nowadays apprentices are faced with a lot of paperwork. It’s like going to school and they are learning some things that aren’t going to be useful to them in their actual careers. I’m all for them learning life-skills, but not at the cost of the number one priority of learning how to be a competent rider.

I mean they even learn horse’s anatomy and that sort of thing. That’s useful to a rider as background knowledge but really that is all it should be … not up front and centre. If you want to spend more time on that, go and be a vet. You are there to learn how to sit on them … not to fix them!

So, to me, the Apprentice School program should be all about spending time on those matters that are going to be beneficial to a professional jockey. By all means, you can have the life-coaching sessions… a couple of hours helping them with those sort of things … but it shouldn’t be part of the criteria to prgress to the next stage of your training.

As I said, today it is too much like going to school.

I know, when I started, one of the reasons I became a jockey was because I wasn’t any good at school. What would have been the point then sending me back to do something I didn’t want to do in the first place … that would just put you off more.

As far as the current riding standards amongst apprentices is concerned, I do hold similar concerns to Brent Thomson.

I guess older jockeys always want to see the younger jockeys not only looking the part but doing the job right … for the all-important reason that it makes it safer for all riders out there if they are riding well.

Again, I don’t think we do it right here in Queensland.

In my opinion the current process of having apprentices go out and start off in the bush is not the right way of going about it.

The best way you learn is from the riders riding around you and the benefit of that is at its highest when you are riding against top riders … where you will learn how to ride well … and it has its least value when you ride against lesser riders.

Instead of helping you progress, the latter situation can be a formula for picking up bad habits … and, once you have picked up those bad habits, they are very hard to get out of.

For example, in the bush, where racing is completely different compared to town, they tend to get out and just get going. When apprentices come to town … next minute they are three or four back on the fence and they are not sure what to do. They want to get out and get going.

They would not have learned patience. The art of patience is free and it is probably one of the best things you can ever learn as a jockey and the earlier you can learn it the better but bush racing isn’t designed to teach you that.

People like to talk about grassroots. That is where it all starts. If you learn well from the start you are likely to do well. If you don’t …

You only have to look at the likes of Ronnie Quinton and Theo Green. It wasn’t by fluke that those guys had good apprentices … and those apprentices learned the life-skills and those sort of things from these masters along the way … but firstly they learnt the most important thing of all about being a jockey … and that is horsemanship.

So, yeah, I think there are many areas Racing Queensland can improve with respect to the handling of apprentices … but you can’t just put a band aid on it.

It’s got to start at the top … maybe making a phone call would be a good place to begin.

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