THE CHANCES OF APPRENTICES.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVII, Issue 1010, 15 July 1909, Page 6

THE CHANCES OF APPRENTICES.

It often occurs to me when noticing the multitude of boys riding work to wonder how many of these are ever fortunate enough to get a chance to make a name as jockeys, writes the “ Special Commissioner ” of the London “ Sportsman.” Even to such as are put up as apprentices the path to future success is beset with difficulties, for however well they may have done while entitled to the apprentice allowance, their patrons are only to apt to desert them when that period has passed, and therefore the apprentice allowance is chiefly effective in manufacturing jockeys for abroad.

That is to say, when a boy loses his allowance, and in consequence is no longer given a chance at home, he is forced to go abroad or back into the stables. Thus it is that such promising lads as Childs, H. Aylin, Clemson, T. Dixon, T. L. Miller, W. Bray, F. Lane, C. Halsley, M. Aylin, J. Murray, A. Sharpies, H. Blades, A. Cockeram, F. Greening and others have been driven abroad, though they were all at one time or another thought likely to make first-class jockeys. It seems clear that some modification of the apprentice allowance rule is needed, for as it stands it serves only to spoil handicaps, while its ultimate effect is to cruelly disappoint successful apprentices, few of whom manage to bridge over the transition period between this stage and that of a full-fledged jockey.