My love and admiration for local horse racing started way back in the 1960’s. In those days race fans were always engaging in healthy discussions and debates as to who is or was the best rider around.

I think the same can be safely said about today as punters and race fans adore, and sometimes idolise, jockeys thereby, placing them in extremely high regard in Jamaica. That, in my view, is quite unique because I don’t think they are so revered in other jurisdictions.In the early days, the colony of riders read like a who is who — masters of the pigskin.I start from my own recollection with the ageing Arthur Daddy Jones who actually hanged up his boots way into his 70’s in the mid-1970’s Daddy Jones was exciting and very lippy in the process. He was never afraid to express his views and was always in or near to the limelight.’Daddy’ was a two-time champion and was credited with the first champion jockey’s crown at Caymanas Park in 1959.Then there were three-time champions, Trevor McKenzie and Winston Ellis.Mero as Ellis was known in racing circles, was so ‘wicked’ in the saddle that popular deejay at the time, U Roy, penned a song titled

Rock Away, where the deejay in part stated: “Ride on Mero ride on, you’re on the wire/blaze away with fire/rock away Mero rock away.” Such were the exploits and popularity of Ellis that he became a household name. Ellis formed a formidable combination with trainer Laurie Silvera, with the two reaping winner after winner. Mero is also the sire of two-time champion Shane, who has carried on the tradition of his father with aplomb.My favourite jockey in those days, however, was none other than Kenneth Mattis, OD. He was indeed a top-flight heavyweight reinsman, and in spite of not having a jockey’s title to his credit, he was never out of the top 10 list between 1959-1969. Mattis called it a day in 1970 because of recurring weight problems and subsequently took on the craft of training, and as they say, the rest is history. He holds the distinction of being the only inductee in racing’s Hall of Fame as a jockey and a trainer. A truly magnificent honour.“Wrench” or “Kiddy”, as Mattis was affectionately known, is remembered for standing extremely tall in the saddle and was the one who conceptualised the ‘prip’ or look between the legs, especially when winning by a city block. Mattis rode a lot of winners for trainer Allan “Billy” Williams and was associated with one of the best horses ever to race at the Park,

None Such.Racefans revered heavyweight jockeys such as Donald Andrade and Glenford “Coon” Walker. I can vividly recall that dramatic finish in the fifth renewal of The Benson & Hedges Gold Cup (1972) with Walker astride the one-eyed UK-bred

Monte’s Stitch shouldering 140 lb and getting up in the nick of to time to pip the

Zaleucus —

Caroline Park filly

Zareba in the glass. That race is still talked about even now and is certainly in any top five list of races ever run at Caymanas Park.Also making that list of admired jockeys, in my opinion, are Neville Cousley, David ‘Scorcher’ McKenzie and Samuel Heslop. “Shuffler”, Heslop’s nickname, had the distinction of pipping none other than the great Lester Piggott on the wire on a few occasions.Cleveland Suckie of

Kilowatt fame was dubbed the five straight specialists in those days as nine times out of 10 Suckie was successful coming down the straight.My roll call continues with Keith McFarlane, Horatio Nelson, Barrington Smith. Smith won the very first race at the Park and was always in the top 10 until his retirement a few years later.Not to be left out of the mix are the Panamanians Herberto Castillo and Albino Ubidia. Bidia, got quite famous for his ever-popular triple, comprising,

Make Believe,

Chief Minister and

Sari. On any given race day when “Bidia” was astride these three, Wallace Nickle trained horses, “go set yuh pot a soup, ’cause dem naa miss”. In fact, the exploits of Ubidia found expression in song – “

Make Believe,

Chief Minister and

Sari; all these horses mek bookie man sorry”. Those lines still reverberate today among those who were privileged to be race fans at the time.All the aforementioned jockeys were all competitive riders who ruled the track in the 1960’s, and Jamaican racing fans adored these men of the pigskin considerably.If you think the era of the 1960’s was anything to scuff at, the 1970’s were ‘cross’; it was so cross and competitive that the first jockey’s championship in 1970 ended with a dead heat between Richard DePass and Panamanian Jose Bravo on 53 winners a piece, and the fans revelled in this level of competition.Then came, in my humble opinion and many others also, the incomparable George HoSang. HoSang was special and was a master at using timing and understanding of a racehorse to win the majority of his races. Who can ever forget those epic battles with “Georgie” on

I Shall Return versus another really outstanding rider, Emilio “Bimbo” Rodriquez on

Spectacular One, or “Georgie” on

The Viceroy versus Winston “Fanna” Griffiths on

Milligram. The latter was a race for the ages as

The Viceroy denied the three-year-old Milligram — both from the same barn — the then very lucrative million-dollar bonus.One other memorable performance from HoSang in the saddle was when he got the leg up on ace sprinter

Eros.

Eros at the time was giving all sorts of problems navigating the home turn. He always tended to drift ‘miles’ wide irrespective of which jockey was aboard, and HoSang was able to get him to ‘scrape paint’.I remember distinctively that day as race fans threw their race books, caps and whatever else they could find in the air in celebration of ‘Georgie’s reinsmanship’. HoSang in a post-interview said that he loves to fly, and Eros can certainly fly.Forgive me if I dwell a bit on George HoSang. In 1976 there was a horse by the name of

Reca (

Dungaree –

Royal Snob) before the Derby had built up quite a reputation for being a run on horse, that is, a horse who always won his races from behind. Unusually, HoSang got the ride on

Reca in the Derby. Unusual because

Reca was trained by Ren Gonzalves who did not use HoSang a lot.What then transpired on Derby Day 1976 was nothing but pure racing magic. HoSang put

Reca in front from the off, much to the surprise of those in the stands and maintained a two-length lead all the way to the winning post.Then there were the likes of Charles Hussey, Neville Anderson, Donovan Lindo, Derrick Ramgeet, (the gate master) Davy Northover, Wayne Sinclair, Carl “Deuce” Morgan. Morgan in fact finished second behind HoSang in the jockeys’ title race in 1974 with 53 winners, and HoSang on 176 a record at the time. This record was later broken by Trevor “Slicer” Simpson.Other favourite riders were Fitzroy “Pumpkin” Gillespie (now Glispie), Robert “Collie” Reid, Parnell “One Son” Linton and Huntley Johnston.Not to be outdone though were the visiting Englishmen headed by George Duffield (Mr Armond tree) who finished fourth in the 1970 dead heat on 28 wins. Other Englishmen who plied their trade successfully here and received a lot of adoration from the local racing fans were Dennis McKay, Joe Mercer, Raymond Still, L C Parks, Johnny Lowe, and the great Lester Piggott.In part two of this series, I’ll be delving into the eras of the 1980’s, the 1990’s and 2000’s to explore how the jockeys of today compare with the jockeys of yesteryear.More anon.