AN EVENTFUL WEEK FOR SAVANNAH MCCANN

By Graham Potter | Saturday, January 6, 2024

Life as an apprentice jockey is seldom a smooth path. As has been shown in examples from the past, having talent is not enough for a young rider to succeed. Their journey can be filled with unforeseen roadblocks and detours, while some, arguably, just get in their own way.

Although it is a different world now with its overbearing political correctness, the tough, straight-talking, no-nonsense trainer of old is still very much a godsend to any apprentice aspiring to get ahead in the racing game. It might not be what they are used to ... but it is what they need.

Listening and learning from such a master will serve them well.

Lindsay Hatch is just such a man ... and is it no surprise he has had helped apprentices step up to the top of their game ... Bailey Nothdurft, Angela Jones, just to mention two, both going on to win Premierships in town.

And now it is Savannah McCann, a 3kg claimer, who finds herself under Hatch’s tutelage ... with their relationship already starting to pay dividends.

McCann had one ride at Gatton on Thursday and two rides at Ipswich on Friday ... and won all three races ... all for her boss ... one of them at $10, which was no gimme.

“She’s been difficult ... one of the difficult apprentices I’ve had but, credit to her, she has made huge progress and is going good,” said Hatch candidly.

“I guess she was no different to other budding apprentices who get bad attitudes and won’t listen, but she has come around ... is listening now and has improved out of sight, that’s why she is getting those results.

“That’s the bottom line. That’s how it is.

“She’s got good potential, but she has got to capitalise on it now ... and keep it going, which I think she will. She rides beyond her years through a race.”

So, there is both that tough love and warm praise component parts in the relationship, with Hatch also showing just how much he is McCann’s corner when asked to comment on the fact that, while she did ride three successive winners, a ride earlier in the week at Toowoomba on New Year’s day on Await The Storm, in which she established a big lead on a fast tempo, did not impress stewards, who advised McCann that ‘the ride would be referred to the Racing Queensland Apprentice Training Team.’

“That was completely my fault,” said Hatch. “She rode the horse exactly how I told her to ride it.

“I told her not to take a hold on the horse, but to sit and swing ... and that is what she did. The horse then took charge of her. It is what it is, and it is something we have got to put behind us.

“I wonder if they took one of her last three winning rides to show them at Apprentice school?”

A nice parting shot.

You just can’t keep a good man down.

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