By Cliff Williams, Contributor
WITH Trevor Simpson's dominant position in the jockeys championship, as he chases the record of races won in a single racing year, Wesley Henry's six-timer last Wednesday takes on added significance as his return to form is very likely to have a negative impact on the front runner.
As the jockeys take the spotlight also of interest is the news that the legendary George Hosang has been engaged by the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC) to assist in the preparation of apprentice riders at the jockey school in the capacity of instructor in the final stages of the current course.
Hosang, whose career ended prematurely, in 1997 when injured by his mount before the start of a two-year old race at Hialeah, Florida is absolutely thrilled at the idea of working in Jamaica and wants to deepen his involvement in the industry in the future.
Winner of the over 2000 races on the North American circuit one feels sure that the highly intelligent and articulate former champion reinsman will be contributing to industry utilising his expertise and racing knowledge.
With his level of credibility he is likely to make a huge impression on the current crop of undergraduates. In fact he has admitted that he has had a wonderful reception from the youngsters, and Hosang thinks that with their level of enthusiasm the future prospects can be viewed with optimism. Realistically the input of a George Hosang in any jockey training programme can only have positive outcomes.
Getting back to Simpson, with fully three months to go he has the 2002 championship sewn up already, and seems to have excellent prospects of overhauling the 167 wins posted by Hosang, a four-time champion of Jamaica, way back in 1974.
Last Saturday proved rather frustrating for the skilful and aggressive reinsman as he had misfortune with two of his mounts. The first injuring him slightly and the second rearing and unshipping him right at the beginning of the race.
Simpson's frustration was very thinly veiled and he gave up his mounts, including a winning one, for the remainder of the afternoon. Highly competitive, Simpson is likely to maintain his focus and is one of the most colourful ever to ride professionally here.
This relentless pursuit of the record by Simpson is a major attraction in itself and has served to keep interest in each raceday a particularly high level. In fact Simpson is attracting a significant cadre of new fans and this is most certainly reflecting in the kind of reception he gets from the live audience with each victory.
Brian Harding for the last four months was the man standing between Simpson and an absolute runaway but Henry has certainly added a new level of competitiveness to the scenario. Henry has a significant advantage in that he can go to scales as light as 46 kilograms and is likely to attract the best of the rides at the bottom of the scales.
Despite the clear and present threat to Simpson's record chasing aspirations, for all I know this is likely to motivate him to go for it with renewed vigour as he possesses the temperament to this point but it must also be recognised that in addition to Harding and Henry, Robert Reid, Clive Lynch, Ameth Robles and the veterans Charles Hussey and Winston Griffiths are worthy competitors.
