Wanted.
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Young man or woman.
No experience necessary, though some helpful.
Capacity for hard work essential.
Ability to work long, unsociable hours, and be a good team player vital.
Rewards – poor at first, but for the right candidate with the right aptitude the sky is the limit.
Darren Weir isn't likely to put an advertisement in the racing or general media for an apprentice, but if he did that would likely to be the job description.
But the champion trainer, who hasn't had a trainee jockey indentured to his stable for some years now, is contemplating taking another youngster on soon.
And whoever gets the chance will be guaranteed to be given plenty of opportunities – if he or she shows the right spirit, says Weir.
"We are going to work on getting apprentices. I had them in the early days but they said I was a bit hard on them. I have got no hope now," he laughs as he explains a decision to rethink taking on a young rider.
"I had a theory that if you want to do the work and work hard, then I will support you.
"That's what I stood behind in the past. The ones that were with me, they were good apprentices, all of them."
Weir often uses claiming jockeys. Ben Allen, one of this season's leading apprentices, has ridden many winners for the champion handler, while title-chasing apprentice Beau Mertens is also forging links with the Ballarat handler. Harry Coffey, when he had an allowance, also rode plenty of winners for the stable in recent seasons.
"You get a kid like Benny Allen claiming three kilos, it’s pretty good value,” he said. "I have also had a bit of luck with Beau. He's great, too. Beau and Benny are as good as any."
Not for a decade or so has Weir had an apprentice formally attached to his yard.
"Benny Melham, he couldn't ride a horse when he came here, Brady Cross, Sebastian Murphy, Brenton Primmer was here when he got hurt, although he was Matthew Williams' apprentice and he was riding one of Matthew's horses when he had the fall.
"Sebastian was a superstar. He just got a bit big. He had a track accident where he hurt his back and then it was hard for him to lose the weight.
"Brady Cross was the first, and then Ben and then Sebastian. Then I had Jarrod Fry."