Top-notch jockey training at Nature Fun Ranch

Founder and Ranch Chief of the Nature Fun Ranch, Corey Lane says the Ranch’s jockey programme has recorded a great deal of success in recent years and plans are on stream to expand the programme even more, with the view of training jockeys with world class potential.

Lane explained in a recent interview with The Barbados Advocate that over the last few years they have been able to expand the programme, and let the jockeys complete their training at the Ranch, rather than having to put them onto other trainers.

“Before we could claim a lot of the jockeys that emerged started with us, but we had to send them off because we didn’t have the facility, we didn’t have the horses, we didn’t have the equipment to complete their training. But we have had that now for the last six years and we have put out a number of jockeys in that time. We have put out a lot of jockeys in the last couple months, in fact we had five in one month and we are on a mission to scale that up and not just for them to pursue riding opportunities in Barbados,” he stated.

Lane indicated that the goal is to ensure that any of the persons coming through that programme are capable of carving out a career as a jockey in the competitive world of professional horse racing. He made the point while noting that some of the jockeys they have trained have been riding overseas and there was one year that as many as four jockeys riding in the revered Sandy Lane Gold Cup, were past members of the Ranch.

“So as I explained, it is not just about Barbados, but it is about how we will get them into China, the United States, Canada and such places, so we are producing for the world. We are not producing for them to go and sit down on the rails at the Garrison and wait for a ride, we are producing top quality, disciplined sports men for the world,” the ranch chief indicated.

Meanwhile, he said that the two thirteen-year olds who were seen in a video which went viral last year showing them slapping several elderly persons, mostly homeless men, around their heads in Bridgetown, have been learning to ride at the Ranch and have been doing well.

The two teenagers told The Barbados Advocate that they long had an interest in becoming jockeys and were enjoying the experience and looked forward to riding in a competition one day.

One boy said, “My mind was on being a jockey, every day is not the same, but it is going well.  I like riding, galloping horses and taking care of them [the horses].”

Lane is especially proud of their success to date, contending that it is prospects like these that young people deserve to have.

“They had this dream, but they didn’t have the opportunity and they are coming along well in the programme. The fact is, this is just a sample of what we have in this country. We have a lot of young people who need opportunities and if we don’t give them the opportunities, we have seen how they can get into bad habits, as opposed to taking that energy and putting it into something positive that they can be passionate about,” he stated. (JRT)