BROWNIE'S BLOG: PUTTING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A PREMIERSHIP WIN IN PERSPECTIVE
By Damian Browne | Friday, June 26, 2020
It’s that time of year where trainers and jockey’s premiership outcomes start to come into focus.
With regard to the Brisbane Metropolitan Premiership, this season has been a ‘no contest’ with Tony Gollan carrying all before him and breaking records on the way to his seventh straight premiership. It’s amazing what he has achieved. As the results, show he is pretty hard to beat in the Premiership and you really can’t see that changing in the foreseeable future.
I have been asked … does the level of dominance by the likes of Gollan (who is 41 winners clear of his nearest rival) and, of course, Chris Waller down south, add impetus to the game or does it take something away from it?
My response is that we should put the significance of winning a premiership in perspective.
It wasn’t that long ago when we were in a position where you would have expected four or five trainers to be vying for the premiership in most major racing precincts (Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane) … and the eventual premiership winner would always come from that group.
So, even then, when a season kicked off and stables set their targets for the year, there was only a handful of trainers who had ‘winning the premiership’ on their target list. Now that number of four or five trainers has given way to a red-hot favourite who normally gets home … and there is no rocket science in that.
Training has changed a lot over the years. Trainers having one or two hundred horses on their books probably wasn’t heard of in the old days.
The top trainers might have had fifty, sixty horses or something like that … and that has completely changed now with the very top trainers having a significant weight of numbers in their favour to help their cause, to the degree where that imbalance puts some into an entirely different league to that of the middle to smaller trainers.
So, it is not exactly a level playing ground and, without taking anything away from the premiership winners, I think it should be seen in that context. Some good judges I know prefer using strike-rate as a measure of performance.
Having said that, obviously you still have to produce winners and find the right races and keep your horses sound and happy, so when the premiership comes along it is still all credit to the trainer who has earned that title and I do respect that achievement.
So, for the sake of argument, let’s say that ninety-five percent, or more, of the trainers don’t have ‘winning the premiership’ on their agenda at the start of the season and I don’t know how many of the remainder even seriously strive for that anymore.
In these times, it is more likely that the best of the rest will target a top ten finish yet, away from the headlines, there will be a lot of success achieved further down the line by trainers who have met their respective targets for the season, whatever they might be … large or small, which will give them their own sense of satisfaction.
They too deserve a nod of approval.
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“You can’t eat premierships and they don’t pay the bills,’ is a true enough saying, but that is not to suggest that being a Premiership winner does not have its advantages.
Firstly, it gives a confidence and a self-belief to the winners because obviously they are doing something right. More important than that though, it can open doors on several levels.
For a trainer, it offers great exposure which can bring the benefits of more owners bringing better horses into the stable.
Winning a premiership, as Tony Gollan’s stable apprentice Baylee Nothdurft is about to do (both the Brisbane Jockey’s Premiership and the Brisbane Apprentice Jockey’s Premiership), definitely opens doors to a young jockey.
Top trainers will take more notice of you … overseas options can become available.
Nothdurft has certainly grown as a rider over the last twelve months. I think that comes with a number of factors which obviously includes opportunities and knowing that sometimes you might be on the best horse in the race … but, he is riding with a head on his shoulders beyond his years now.
He had only probably been riding for twelve to eighteen months or so when I was still riding. Although riding well then, he would do what apprentices do … for example he might have panicked because the boss wants him to get out at a particular stage and he was stuck on the inside going … but now he seems to be taking things more in his stride and just riding his race. He has got a good, old head on his shoulders.
Like I say, it does help when you have got the backing of a leading stable but, make no mistake, with that comes added pressure also. Nothdurft has weathered that storm to the point where he is expected to perform every week now … and where he no longer treated like an apprentice.
When you are riding for the bigger stables, if you want to keep the ride, you are not really allowed to make the mistakes that an apprentice can make. You will be called out on them and that just comes with the high ground that Nothdurft has reached.
The last apprentices to win the Brisbane Jockeys Premiership were Michael Rodd in 2002 and Zac Purton in 2003 so the young man is about to join illustrious company indeed.
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Talking about apprentices, it is always interesting to see how they develop and the smart rate at which the better ones’ make progress … Baylee Northdurft and Stephanie Thornton being the standouts this season.
Some have more natural talent than others and I know style can be particular to individual jockeys, but all apprentices should be taking the opportunity to look and learn in order to continue to develop and refine their riding skills to their best advantage while they are young enough to adapt and iron out any flaws in their riding makeup that might ultimately end up holding them back.
Many get off to a real flyer in town and apprentices can get a real roll on in the Winter months when the wet tracks are around, because obviously the claim helps those horses, but to go forward as a jockey, and I mean as a jockey when he or she comes out of his time, it is important that they polish up their style as much as they can, when they can.
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Styles can indeed be particular to individual jockeys. When I mentioned that how many of you thought of Jeff Lloyd?
Jeff copped a lot of flak about his riding style when he first came to town … but it was a style that he had perfected and it worked brilliantly for him. So why would he change? In any case you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Emphasising just how well Jeff had mastered ‘the bounce,’ when you watched him in slow motion you could see he was really helping the horse extend. When others tried it, it didn’t look like they were helping their horse that much … maybe not even helping it at all.
Jeff’s fellow South African, Robbie Fradd, can also do it pretty well. Robbie can do it when he gets tired though. He gets the bounce going then but he also gets everything else going. He tries to beat the horse there sometimes.
Talk about throwing everything at it! I used to give Robbie grief all the time when I was riding with him. I used to say … ‘mate, you have got to wait for the horse, you can’t beat it to the line.’
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In closing, it would be remiss of me if I did not join thousands of others in paying tribute to Graham Salisbury, who passed away earlier this week.
Graham, along with his good mate the 1992 Melbourne Cup winner Subzero, brought so much happiness into so many people’s lives.
Graham and Subzero, in their own way, have become legends in the sport.
For so many years they promoted the bond between man and horse and between the racing industry and the general community … with their visits to hospitals and old age homes … and I can’t think of anybody who has done that any better.
The bond between Graham and Subzero was such a beautiful thing to see … to see just how much a horse is cared for and loved.
I bet Subzero is in mourning now wondering where Graham is.
Theirs is, and will always remain, one of the most heart-warming stories you are ever likely to see.
RIP Graham Salisbury.
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