Ron Smith: Garry Whillans - A Jockey's Life
Thu, Mar 3rd 2016 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Weekly meeting with guest speaker.
Three visitors were introduced to
last week's meeting of the Rotary Club by President Mairhi Trickett. Tommy
Stevenson, Hawick and John Elliot and Robbie Trussler, Langholm were welcome
guests. The speaker Garry Whillans. a local jockey, gave an excellent
account of his vocation and the dark arts associated with the sport of
kings. In the last 5 seasons he has had 332 rides and has won over
£107,000 in prize money for the horses' owners. He started as a jump
jockey before progressing to the flat. He said it was always a struggle
for most jockeys to keep their weight down and it could mean having to shed
half-a-stone in the 24 hours before a race which entailed a starvation diet, no
fluids and plenty of sauna sessions. Interestingly he said the complete
gear a jockey wore came to about 3lbs including specially made boots.
There are more jockeys than horses so competition for rides is very keen.
Hawick has a great history of jockeys and has produced 31 recently many of them
having started by following the Cornet from a very young age. It is a
hazardous career as injuries are frequent as well as the strict control
regulations on drugs and alcohol. Garry was introduced by race-horse enthusiast
Ron Smith and, after his presentation and a good question session he was
thanked, for what was his maiden talk, by the President.
