Always back the horse named self-interest, son. It'll be the only one trying
As regular readers of this site will know, we – inspired by the passionate advocate for overseas apprentices Gold Coast Greg – have long championed the cause of bringing talented and committed young Asian apprentices to QLD. It is working in New Zealand, and it will work here, just as it has before back in […]
A lucrative program which would see Hong Kong apprentices trained up in Queensland before returning to their home country is being stalled by an extraordinary previous decision by the state’s governing body not to employ them. Racenet can reveal the Hong Kong Jockey Club has approached Racing Queensland to have their apprentices trained in the […]
We have written a few times about how the talented apprentice rider Bailey Wheeler has been pissing his career down the drain, and sadly it appears that we have been right. Wheeler has been sacked by trainer Annabel Neesham for repeated indiscretions related to his committment and work ethic, and now his future in racing […]
New Zealand Racing has a specialized program to attract overseas apprentice riders to come over to live there and learn their trade by riding in the country. A prospective apprentice must have achieved a score of 5.5 on their International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam, which is compulsory to sit and means that they […]
Ten years ago the then QLD Racing Minister Steve Dickson – the man who famously declared that QLD racing was half a furlong in front of the southern states – announced this worthy initiative to integrate young riders from Korea into Australian racing. Sadly like a lot of Minister Dickson’s grand ideas it faded away […]
Any time soon a very famous name in racing is set to join the apprentice rider ranks in Queensland. I refer here to trainee apprentice Julie Busuttin, daughter of Castletown’s (pictured above) former trainer Paddy Busuttin, and younger sister of current gun Victorian trainer Trent. Julie has just kicked off riding in trials, and had […]
Remember that story we wrote about Bailey Wheeler last night. Do you reckon this is a coincidence? Yeah right. As we always say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. By Ben Dorries 08:10am • 26 January 2024 Teenage Brisbane apprentice Bailey Wheeler has been stood down for the second time by his master, Group 1 […]
Not that many months ago Bailey Wheeler was the red hot gun Queensland apprentice, riding winners in town at the same sort of strike rate as the top senior jockeys in Brisbane. Wheeler was going so well that he still sits a close 2nd on the metro apprentices ladder behind Ceejay Graham, who has had […]
Queensland apprentice Jai Williams has a serious issue with his whip use that needs to be urgently corrected before he finds himself getting rubbed out of the game. Yesterday at the Gold Coast he recorded his 14 whip rule breach in the past 6 months, a remarkable bad feat given that he has had only […]
NSW and QLD both have a shortage of jockeys, which is a huge concern in particular for the Sunshine State where a ridiculous and utterly unsustainable number of races are run each weekend, and horses are regularly scratched every Saturday for want of a rider. So what’s the plan to fix it? In a state […]
