Jockey School - Ch 4 Thursday 22.00

So looking forward to this - a friend of mine is still one of the instructors (Malcolm Bygraves) so it will be interesting to see him on it (used to work with him at Charlie Nelson's years ago).
 
I actually thought it was excellent but possibly could have done with more than just one episode so you got an idea of the complete novices starting from scratch and learning to ride and control a racehorse (not just any horse) in only 10 weeks. Both the BRS and the NRC have their fair share of criticism but I think they do an incredible job in the timescale they are given. I think it should be more like 6 months.

Of the 3 chosen to follow, actually Stacey, the was blonde now brunette, was by far the most natural rider. It was a shame her attitude was her undoing as was obvious from the start. But when you saw how much she had changed in such a short time, you felt there was hope for her. They were right to refuse her a placement (something I didn't realise they did) at this time as with Shona who patently was terrified initially but channelled her newly found courage towards a different career path.
What was interesting was the forthrightness of the instructors. It was blatant the students had not experienced this sort of teaching but it didn't do them any harm and I found them to be very caring and down to earth as well. Malc was a true star (but then I knew he was!!) although he hasn't half aged since I last saw him 20 years ago!

http://www.drf.com/news/college-and-professor-future-jockeys - bit more detail.
 
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I thought it was a potentially interesting programme spoiled by poor production. The kids all had a degree of complexity about them, but the programme largely focused on the minor dramas - Stacey talked about how the course had changed her and she was clearly making an effort to get away from her troublesome past, but that wasn't really brought out until the very end of the programme.

All in all, it was something of a box-ticking exercise. Pikey? Check. Oversexed and volatile teen? Check. Painfully shy girl scarred by past experience? Check. I'd happily watch this if it was a comprehensive 8-part series, but the pared-down version was a disappointment.
 
I only got to see the first fifteen or twenty minutes, which gave the impression the Northern Racing School is a sort of boot camp for young people at risk. A bit of context about how and why these kids got to be offered their places would have been no harm.
 
It could have been a good programme but ended up looking like a documentary on some kind of community service. I felt sorry for the kids because when you saw their parents you knew they were up against it.
 
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