Lyle Hewitson ends apprenticeship

..from zarbloodstock - zarbloodstock.com/lyle-hewitson-ends-apprenticeship/

Intelligent | Horseman | Charismatic | X-Factor..

When I first met Lyle back in early 2016 it was at Summerveld where I was running proprietary bone density and soft tissue conditioning field trials at the time. Lyle is different to the rest of us.. and I got the strong feeling from him within the first few sentences that something was about to happen to racing we hadn’t seen in a long time. I had no idea about his horsemanship level at that stage, he had been winning some amateur races in JHB (which I hadn’t seen) and was on his way to getting an apprentice license and stepping out for his first pro ride. This was about charisma, intelligence, communication, magnetism and x-factor. This was about a potential future poster boy for our game. I walked away from that short first meeting thinking.. if this boy can ride half as good as his presentation package, we have a champion in the making.

For a short while I had the privilege of using Lyle as a work rider but once he got his license he was gone. Within weeks his star had risen so astronomically quickly that he was in demand around the country on a daily basis and no longer a regular in the mornings at Summerveld. I had this horse that was pulling like a train in work and no one could hold him he was a bitch. He was up next and there was no one around to take him and then Lyle happened to pass by and offered to jump on. I gave him the heads-up about the pulling and with no specific instructions other than try and keep him from tearing away, and off they went.. and came back at a relaxed soft rein canter! That people, is Lyle Hewitson for you. A rare blend of everything needed to go all the way.

As of today, Lyle Hewitson’s apprenticeship has ended and he is now a fully fledged jockey. And by the way, he’s also the current standing SA champion jockey 2017/2018, which he achieved as an apprentice.. something that hasn’t been done in decades if memory serves correctly. Congrats Lyle, and remember – with great talent comes great responsibility.

by Leon Setaro
zarbloodstock.com

Top class chap with a bright future, ticks all the boxes, well said Leon.

476 winners...

Bob Brogan wrote: 476 winners...

Hi Bob

What is the SA record for number of wins as an apprentice?

Did he break this record as well?

Hi Sammy not sure

The 476 winners include work riders wins

Happy New Year Clanner’s it has been a while.

One thing I have no doubt of is that is a tough game for everybody involved. There is a lot finger pointing when pockets gets hurt.

Trying to look at it from a jockey’s point of view, it must be a tough game. Like the horses, these guys are athletes who work there asses off to stay in the best shape to produce results for all stakeholders. As with all athletes they go through highs and lows, form and no form. You have the top end jockey’s and the strugglers. The top end, form jocks get to ride the best horses but this comes with a downside too. Bookies see a horse with A Marcus on board at Greyville and it is an automatic favourite (false favourite mostly). The pressure from punters is enormous but the limitations lie in the animal, its preparation and the form lines, not the jockey in most instances (Although Ryan Moore’s ride on a hot fav in Kempton a couple of nights ago was poor and a bit of over confidence was evident. He should have put that field away without the showboating. That being said I don’t mind losing money on a Ryan Moore ride, he is on top of my list of Favourite Jockey’s ever). I do generally back good jockeys and not the horses mostly.

I digress from the title of this thread. Lyle Hewitson is top class, he is going about thing the right way. I have been watching racing since Gavin Lerena was an apprentice and I have noted since how apprentices and Jockey’s come and go and don’t really stay on top for too long other than a few. Back to Gavin, he was definitely the most consistent apprentice around and his peers struggled to match him, the same with Lyle, but what about the guys like JP van der Merwe who I rated as a good appy and won a fair amount of races in his time? There are a host of others that have been great apprentices but been unable to keep the momentum going. Jessica (surname escapes me) was up there I thought. Saw her outride some of the best on occasion.

My list of Jockeys who I back in no particular order:

Anton, Richard, Gavin, Lyle, Anthony (get well soon)

I hope Lyle kicks on and stays.

Next good one is Luke Ferraris in my opinion! Watch him rise through the ranks.