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| Mark
Sweeney -
Jockey |
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| Mark
Sweeney was far from impressed when a family friend suggested
to him that he might like to consider becoming a jockey.
At the time he was a Northland teenager who preferred
to go fishing rather than to school and he didn't take
kindly to the idea that he had the makings of a jockey. |
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| "I
was your typical macho young guy," he recalls. "My
reply was that only small people made jockeys - no way
did I consider myself to fit into that category." |
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| Another
factor which went against the grain was that although
he had grown up in a rural environment with plenty of
contact with animals, Mark had never ridden a horse. For
the life of him, he couldn't imagine embarking on a career
which required that very talent. |
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| But
the topic around Mark's Kaitaia home persisted and his
ears finally pricked up when someone mentioned having
read about the money earned by the country's up and coming
jockey of the time, Lance O'Sullivan. |
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| "I
certainly became interested when they put it like that,"
he says. |
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| Thus
Mark took the initiative and wrote to retired Auckland
jockey Norm Holland who in turn referred him to the Takanini
trainer Colin Jillings. The upshot was that at age 16,
he joined the industry workforce, initially on trial as
a probationary, and then as an apprentice jockey. |
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| Two
things that surprised him about his new job - how well
he coped with the sometimes demanding hours of work, and
how quickly he developed a love of the horses that were
such a feature of his daily routine. "I fell in love
with them and quickly got to enjoy the way of life, the
people I was working with and the outdoor nature of the
job." |
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| Within
a month of joining the Jillings stable, Mark was riding
the quieter members of the racing team and a year later
he had advanced to the stage he was riding at trials.
Raceday rides quickly followed, as did the ultimate buzz
- riding winners. "It didn't take long for that winning
feeling to grow and become a challenge every time I got
in the saddle on raceday." |
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| Mark,
a natural lightweight due to the small stature that he
had refused to recognise back in his less orderly Northland
days, soon found himself in ready demand and the wins
flowed. He won a special apprentice series, the prize
for which was a trip to an international apprentice jockey
series in Macau. He duly won that, while back at home
he added the country's most prestigious race, the Auckland
Cup, and was presented to Queen Elizabeth II after winning
the Ellerslie race named in her honour during the royal
tour of 1995. |
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| Even
though he is now well established as one of New Zealand's
most capable jockeys, Mark needs little prodding to reflect
on the carefree days of his youth when such milestones
would have been laughable. |
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