Following Jockeys Was Not a Wonderful Success

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6943, 24 June 1929, Page 4

Following Jockeys Was Not a Wonderful Success

Out of the 63 jockeys who had rides at the recent Great Northern meeting at Ellerslie, only 8, or about 121 per cent., showed a p.rofit in the way of dividends. CO that those punters who follow certain riders would not have much to show as a result of their three days’ operations at Ellerslie. With five wins out of eight chances T. Green had to show a nice profit of close on 200 per cent., and as the Southern light-weight has plenty of admirers it is possible that his success earned something for his followers —

which profit would in all probability be dissipated when the backer departed from his (or her) intention of backing only Green’s mount and try to pick the card. It is just this weakness that spells disaster to fully 90 per cent, of the sporting fraternity. The system backer, no matter what the system is, must have a will of iron to adhere solely to the horse or jockey indicated by his schedule. Even hardened punters are known to “give it a go” at times, and sometimes they pull it off, but more often they get in the cart. Probably no horseman in the Dominion has a bigger following than Roy Reed, but his efforts at Ellerslie were entirely barren of results, one fourth being the closest he could get to the money in eight attempts. There are not many who would care to name a better rider on the fiat than Reed, and few could name any so good, but even this does not get over the fact that he was a dead loss to his admirers this trip. Last Was Best Next to Green the best return was made by the Ellerslie light-weight, E. Ludlow, who had nine rides —and it was the ninth mount that came home at long odds, making a profit of slightly over 66 per cent.

The rider of the Great Northern Steeplechase winner supplied his backers with nearly 100 per cent, profit, and A. McCormac (who is now domiciled at Ellerslie) was even better to follow, one win and a second giving substantial returns.

G. Holland gave a good return, and so too did J. Cammick, who had but four rides. The Otago jockey, H. Anderton, and R. Olive were others to show a fair profit to investors, but a careful study of the. list given here indicates that the following of certain jockeys is a parlous way to increase one’s capital. But in racing one way

of betting is almost as good as another, for the sporting fraternity, without exception, is a race of the greatest optimists in the world. The following list shows the leading jockeys at the recent meeting, giving the number of rides they had and the amounts returned by way of dividends:

In this list there are 21 jockeys who gave dividend returns. This is just one-third of the number of horsemen who were riding at the Great Northern meeting. *,

Rides Dividends T. Green 8 22 8 0 E. Ludlow .. . 9 15 2 6 A. McCormack . 6 14 5 0 F. Foster .. . 7 13 0 6 G. Holland .. . 7 12 15 0 J. Cammick .. . 4 10 5 0 L. Dulieu .. . 12 7 19 0 H. Dulieu .. . 11 6 1 0 C. Goulsbro .. . 7 6 0 0 R. McTavish .. . 6 5 19 0 R. Syme 7 5 19 0 H. Anderton . 4 5 18 6 A. E. Ellis .. . 8 5 11 0 R. Olive 3 ! • 4 16 6 F. McGovern .• . 5 . 4 5 6 N. Syme 4 3 13 0 L. Watson .. . 5 3 1 6 L. Husband .» 4 3 1 0 J. Sharkey .. . 8 1 19 6 L. Manson .. . 7 1 14 0 H. Wiggins .. . 8 1 13 6