Apprentice jockey Hayley Hassman, 19, is all mud and smiles after riding Royal Valour to victory in Ashburton last month. Photo / Race Images South
By Suzanne McFadden for LockerRoom
Kim Clapperton admits she was pretty naïve when she was handed an apprentice jockey’s licence at 15.
The first woman to win New Zealand’s apprentice premiership, in 1989, and the first female jockey to race in Hong Kong, Clapperton remembers getting changed in caravans at racetracks around the country in the 1980s.
“But I never felt like I was a female riding against males – I never felt any discrimination,” she says. “I’ve ridden all over the world, and New Zealand is still the best place for females to be jockeys.”
Back then, though, there was no psychological support, fitness training or mentoring for young riders. “We were literally handed our licences and told, ‘Good luck, hope you get to the end of it’,” Clapperton says.
Now she’s helping to change that. As a mentor to young jockeys, she’s guiding them through their apprenticeships and into successful careers. “I just want to give back to an industry I love and one I was lucky enough to succeed in,” she says.
Clapperton is part of the new Elite Jockey Programme – a high performance-focused pathway developed by New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) to support apprentice riders as professional athletes. It supports them through the first three years in the saddle – giving them a better chance of staying in the sport for the long haul.
The first two apprentices accepted into the programme – 19-year-olds Ashlee Strawbridge and Hayley Hassman – were taken on earlier this year in a pilot. The rising stars joke they were the “crash-test dummies”, but both say the support they’ve received has already played a vital role in their success.
“Everything we need help with, there’s someone to help us, which is huge,” Strawbridge says.
“There are so many young people in this game who get lost – it’s such a hard thing to do.”
Hassman says she learned more in the first three days of the programme than she did in her entire first year as an apprentice.
In a move to curb declining retention rates among apprentices, the programme has shortened the apprenticeship period from four years to three – bringing it into line with most trade apprenticeships and university degrees. And NZTR is providing half of an apprentice’s wages for the first year, to help get them out of the stable to make connections in the sport.
Changes had to be made, Amy Johnson, head of education, training and recruitment for NZTR, says.
“It’s not that we didn’t produce great jockeys. We have the world’s best in James McDonald, and we had a good apprentice programme. But we were tasked with making it more attractive to young people coming in,” she says.
“Jockeys nowadays, compared with 20 years ago, are in a high performance role, so we needed to provide a programme that meets their needs and develops them as athletes.”
Both Hassman and Strawbridge have race wins on their rider CVs, but arrived in the programme from very different routes.
Strawbridge grew up around racing stables in Waikato, where her mum, Michelle Hopkins, was one of the country’s top jumps jockeys (the Great Northern Steeplechase is among her victories).
“But I never wanted to be a jockey – I always thought Mum was crazy for wanting to do that,” Strawbridge laughs. “But once you get started, you get addicted to it. It’s a feeling, a thrill, you can’t explain.”
First, though, Strawbridge went to university in Christchurch and studied law for a year. “I loved uni, but I spent more time trying to go to the races, doing ride work, than going to classes. That was a telltale sign of what I really wanted to do at this point in my life,” she says.
Strawbridge, who celebrated her first two race wins in the same week in June, knows her mum approves her career choice.
“But she probably thinks I’m just as crazy as she was. She knows how tough being an apprentice can be, and having this programme is such a big deal for young people wanting to be part of the industry,” Strawbridge, who works for Te Awamutu trainer Debbie Sweeney, says.
Hassman, on the other hand, didn’t come from “a horsey background”. She started out riding at a holiday camp, followed by lessons at the Waikato Equestrian Centre.
“I went through all the sports as a kid, but nothing stuck like horses did. It was the challenge of it,” she says. “During school – which I was never good at – they sent me off to work at the Windsor Park stud farm.”
She’s grateful to her single mum, who drove her to Cambridge on weekends to work at a racing stable. But becoming an apprentice jockey wasn’t the path Hassman was expecting to take.
“When I got my trackwork licence, the guy running the course said, ‘You’d made a good jockey, you should do it one day’. But I was never quite sure,” she says.
“So I started riding in the amateur series [in 2023], got a few good wins under my belt and got a feeling for it.”
She headed to Melbourne to get more experience as a trackwork rider and met top Kiwi trainer Mark Walker, from Te Akau Racing’s stables in Matamata. She took up his offer of an apprenticeship in March – and joined the new elite jockey programme. By May, she’d notched up her first wins as an apprentice.
The apprenticeship initiative has helped put Hassman’s mum at ease.
“Before you were on your own, finding your feet. Whereas now you’re supported every step of the way, given the right guidance by the right people,” she says. “It’s given Mum the confidence that this will set me up on the right path for my future.”
Strawbridge and Hassman have been joined in the inaugural intake by another female apprentice, Frankie Barrett, and male riders Sam McNab and Jack Taplin.
Every eight weeks, they spend a two-day training block away from their stables, to focus solely on the apprenticeship programme. They also have weekly support from a strength and conditioning coach, a riding mentor and a sports psychologist.
As a mentor, Clapperton is now passing on her knowledge and experience to emerging riders. She was fortunate to be taken under the wing of Maree Lyndon – the first woman to ride in the Melbourne Cup. “I always appreciated what she did for me, and so I love to give back to this generation,” Clapperton, who won the Malaysia-Singapore jockeys premiership in 1993, says.
“I know the pressures these apprentices are under. I’ve seen some come in shy and lacking self-confidence – but on a horse, they grow so much. I love watching them grow as people and making a successful career out of something they love that they can earn a lot of money in.
“But also making sure they’re competent, capable and they’re safe. They’re not going to get out there and crumble.”
Both Hassman and Strawbridge were involved in a nasty fall at a Te Rapa race meet in the past fortnight, and were among four riders taken to Waikato Hospital with injuries – but they’re already back in the saddle.
In revamping the programme, Johnson worked with High Performance Sport New Zealand, who helped her understand what professional athletes need.
“It’s not just about riding, but it’s business acumen too. You need financial know-how – there’s no other apprenticeship in New Zealand where you come out with an average $130,000,” she says. “The jockeys need to know how they can invest it, not waste it, and make sure they’re set up for the next step in their careers.
“It’s also about learning to communicate with trainers and building a brand for yourself. These riders are thrown into public view the minute they get out there on race day. They have 20 minutes between races, and if something doesn’t go right, they’ve got to get back into that positive mindset, get back on to that next horse and do their best job.”
The jockeys are also getting support on how to deal with the strict weight restrictions (between 52kg and 59kg) the sport demands.
“Keeping your weight down is a hard thing to do yourself, if you don’t really understand how,” Strawbridge says. “Having people with the knowledge to guide you through nutrition is awesome.”
New Zealand is leading the world with the number of female jockeys in their race fields.
“It’s a unique sport – females competing against males in the same category – and it’s wonderful to see there’s so much opportunity for women,” she says. “I hail from Ireland where it’s a no-go for female jockeys, really.”
Strawbridge and Hassman are driven to inspire a new generation of young female apprentices.
“It’s really important for young women and girls to know they can do something that’s not dominated by men,” Strawbridge says, “where there’s no limitation to what they can do, and it’s a very special thing to be part of.”
This story was originally published at Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.