THE exigencies of life, especially, in the Portmore community of St Catherine, has driven many unskilled and small-boned youngsters to the Caymanas Park racetrack in search of that elusive grasp on fame and fortune.

One element that many do fail to take a grasp of is the unrelenting fact that nothing comes easy. Hard work, in almost every instant, is at the heart of success; either to achieve it or hold on to it. It is never easy.

It can even be an elusive dream. Twenty-five-year-old Vijay Ashley, a resident of the Portmore area and licenced jockey for the past five or so years, but who has not made good enough use of the chance that was provided to ride more than a few winners since becoming a licenced jockey, is now coming to the reality that he has approached his career wrongly and has now returned to the park with the hope of making the best of his second coming. In an interview with The Complete Racing Guide, Ashley said: “I have approached my chosen career wrongly from the start.

At the start of my career, I must admit that I did not know how to ride. But as time went on and getting a few rides I came on in the saddle. However, I was not getting enough support. To put it bluntly, I was not patient enough to gain that support. So my own belief is that I approached the game wrongly.

“I believed that I was trying to gain the support, and when it did not come at the time when I expected it to come, I think my confidence of me making the grade as a capable rider dipped.

My regular attendance at the track to exercise horses for trainers fell off. When I felt that things were not going my way and I was not getting the support, then it became difficult to motivate myself to come to the track with any great regularity.

“This was especially so when I thought that my chosen career was rife with doubt and, as a youngster, you lose focus when things become complicated.

But as you grow older and have a family to feed – I have two boys – you begin to see things in a different way. Nothing comes to you on a platter, you have to go out there and get it.

“Perhaps if I had grown up with a father, even one who was not much more than that, then maybe things would have been different. And I have always to give full praise to a Sergeant of police who stepped in and tried to guide me, after one day at the age of 15 he caught me driving a motor car without a licence.

Since then he has been a guide, although sometimes I do not always pay the strictest attention to his counselling, but enough to show me when I am off course. And this has helped me to return to the track with greater determination to succeed.”

Ashley, who has scored good wins atop Triple Account, going 1,000 metres straight, Brash and Sassy, and also three wins aboard Diabolical Kid, said that he is back at the track to stay on this occasion to make a career as a successful rider by putting in some hard work.

Success may not come, but it will not be for the wants of hard work and commitment, said Ashley.

The man who also rode the versatile Graded Stakes runner Ron Ron, surmised that one good reason why some jockeys may have to either migrate to other countries to find work or go off into other areas to find employment was that there is only one track in the country, and this makes it difficult to provide employment for most of the graduates of the jockeys’ School.