Best is yet to come, says Whyte
If the theorists are right, we have some bad news for champion jockey Douglas Whyte's rivals - he isn't at his peak yet.
Whyte is only 32, and experts in the subtle art of race riding declare that the great jockeys don't peak until the second half of their 30s.
'I think that's probably right because there are a number of things I want to improve with my riding,' Whyte admitted yesterday. 'It's one of the reasons I'm doing this trip to Japan - to ride against other jockeys, on different courses, and to learn more.'
In looking back on his record-breaking season, in which he won 106 races to beat Basil Marcus' old benchmark by eight, Whyte said there were a number of factors in his improved performance.
'At the end of last season, I'd won the premiership with 88 wins but I looked at the table and saw I'd had 102 seconds,' Whyte said. 'Now I'm the sort of person who is always looking to better myself and I thought, to run that many seconds, there has to be something wrong.'
So Whyte went back to school and revisited his riding style. He considered criticism from rival jockeys, including title runner-up Shane Dye, that he wasn't strong enough in a finish, and started making some changes.
'Now, I'm stronger in a finish, but I still believe I can get more out of a horse by encouraging them rather than punishing them,' he said. 'My job is to win the horses' confidence and to get them to run to their best for me.'
In that sense, it was a case of mission accomplished. Last season, Whyte was in the quinella 190 times but won only 88 of them; this season, he was in the first two 192 times, but came out on top in 106 of them (including one dead head).
Dye had a solid season, befitting his role as first-choice jockey for John Size, with 69 winners. What added further flavour to a well-spiced season of media coverage was the positive way he responded to pressure. The more glaring the spotlight, the better Dye rode.
Felix Coetzee will return next season with a formal retainer for the Tony Cruz stable, replacing the de facto one he enjoyed this year. With 64 winners, he may have finished 42 wins in arrears of his fellow South African in the title chase, but he had a victory over Whyte in the dollars department, with seven Group One winners, forcing the total prizemoney of Coetzee mounts over the $89 million mark.
Widely admired Frenchman Gerald Mosse took fourth spot on the ladder with 60 wins and is set to return as retained rider for David Hayes. He also travelled widely, winning a Group One in Singapore and finishing second in last week's Ascot Gold Cup.
Anton Marcus (fifth, 55 winners), Glyn Schofield (sixth, 43) and Robbie Fradd (seventh, 37) gave South Africa the distinction of producing five of the top seven jockeys of 2003-04.
