Racing is a pushover for jockeys reared on pony scene
A 16-year-old’s triumph in the Welsh National proves the nursery system is working, writes
Youngsters might have had 500 race rides before stepping on a racecourse proper
The triumph of 13-year-old Raz De Maree in last Saturday’s Coral Welsh National at Chepstow was notable not only for the horse’s OAP status but the youthfulness of his jockey, James Bowen, who is only three years older and has only been old enough to ride under rules since March 12.
Bowen would doubtless have made it whatever but I am sure he owes his precocity as a jockey to the flourishing British pony racing scene.
Much has been made about jump jockeys riding into their 40s. But Bowen’s victory in a marquee race is unlikely to be a one-off because pony racing has become a key nursery ground for future jockeys.
Graduates Sam Twiston-davies, Sean and James Bowen, Bryony Frost, Lucy Alexander and Harrys Bannister and Cobden are all going great guns over jumps while Tom Marquand and Hollie Doyle are going well on the Flat.
The first official pony race in Britain was held in 2004 as a result of a National Hunt Review which wanted to level the playing field with Ireland whose own pony racing circuit had for years produced not only more but, on the whole, better jockeys who might have had 500 race rides before they ever stepped on a racecourse proper.
There are two height categories for the ponies, 13.2 hands and under and 14.2 hands, which allows a child, between the ages of nine and 16, to graduate upwards in size. A decent pony might set you back anything between £5,000 and £10,000
– the equivalent of a good eventing/hunting pony but the tenth of the price of a top-class show jumper.
Sometimes they are undergrown racehorses but one of the current best, the mare Push The Button – I know this because she is trained by my sister, Gee, and ridden by my nephew Thomas – is a strawberry roan Welsh-thoroughbred cross which began life pulling a trap. Had she been around in Ernie’s day I dare say Benny Hill could not have claimed Trigger pulled the fastest milk cart in the west.
As the sport gained momentum the Pony Racing Authority was set up to oversee it in 2007. Last year there were 51 pony races in the Charles Owen racecourse series, 172 races at various pointto-points including races for novice jockeys and numerous training days.
A criticism of the system is that it is just the sons and daughters of trainers coming through, but fewer than 25 per cent of its 258 members have any family connection with racing and the authority does its community bit by facilitating training and rides for children from inner city farms in London, Liverpool, Banbury and Gloucester.
Having successfully killed off my son’s aspirations to be a jockey – he was run away with by numerous unsuitable ponies – I refined my pony purchasing in time for my daughter, a year younger than Raz De Maree, to become an enthusiastic pony racer and, now, the most likely member of the family to follow in her father’s footsteps.
Normally at this stage I give you a story about how it all went horribly wrong but on Speedy, a pony borrowed from my sister, she won on her first and only start at Lingfield last half-term. At the moment she can only dream of riding Push The Button.
The race itself, however, was not without incident and the start was delayed three times which did nothing for her mother’s already fractured nerves. One pony, having its first run on sand, promptly got down and had a good roll as soon as it hit the track while another pony bolted, twice.
After that racing proper should be a pushover.