News

Jockeys want national licence

18th Jun 2009

Racenet - Clinton Payne - Thursday, 18 June 2009

Jockeys Australia-wide have called on the Australian Racing Board (ARB) to introduce a national licensing system.

Under current racing regulations, jockeys are licensed on a state-by-state basis, a situation the Australian Jockeys Association (AJA) describes as “archaic”.

“The current licensing system is holding the industry back and unfairly penalising jockeys,” AJA chief executive Paul Innes said.

“Jockeys often travel state to state to ride.

“It is ridiculous that they not only have to go through the rigmarole of filling out the paperwork in each state but they also have to fork out the money for the different licences.”

Jockeys are forced to obtain separate licences whenever they venture from their home state to ride and each state licence carries different conditions and costs.

“Jockeys are forking out thousands of dollars to be registered in each state just in case they get called upon to ride elsewhere,” Innes said.

“It’s absurd that you can get a driver’s licence in one state that allows you to drive in all the others, but you can’t do the same with a jockey’s licence.

“It’s about time the ARB took a common sense approach to licensing and introduced a national scheme.”