Another Skelton on the racing scene

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32873, 23 March 1972, Page 8

Another Skelton on the racing scene

Next season another Skelton is likely to join the New Zealand racing scene. Already five Skelton brothers. Bob, Bill, Errol, Max, and Frank have been involved in racing. And David Skelton, a son of the leading rider, Bill, expects to take on a full apprenticeship late next season. He is still some months off 14 years, but he

has been riding track work at Levin for his grandfather, Fred Pratt, for four months. I He hopes to sign with Pratt as a probationary apprentice for six months to get a better idea of an apprentice’s life. Then if he still feels he wants to devote his life to riding, he will take out a full apprenticeship when he is 15. His desire to become a rider came out of the blue. "He didn’t show much interest in the pony,” his father said, “though he was always helping his grandfather around the stable. Then one day I came back from a trip and David tbld me he’d ridden trackwork that morning. Since then he’s been riding work each morning and is keen to take on an apprenticeship.” If he decides to take on an apprenticeship, he will not be indentured to any stable in Levin. / “I’d like him to go into a stable away from myself,” his father said. “When it is one of your own children it is hard to teach them and you are inclined in shield them. I have a couple of stables in mind where I’d like him to go.” Bill Skelton, remembers well what life as an apprentice is like —the hard work that is involved and the sacrifices. Apprentice life, he found, is all right for a boy on top, but is terribly tough for a boy who does not quite make it.

All the same, he is quite pleased his son has decided to follow in his footsteps. “One thing about it,” he com-

merited, “starting young he can always take on something else after a couple of years if he finds he’s not cut out to be a jockey.” The photograph shows David Skelton and his father examining a book on South African racing.