Racehorse TALK

The Australian Jockeys Association this morning called on the Australian Racing Board "to take the historic step of recognising Australia has a national racing industry by ending archaic state licensing requirements". Chief executive Paul Innes said the AJA "is proposing the ARB implement a national licensing scheme when it meets in Melbourne today". He noted: "Despite the fact jockeys regularly travel to different states to race, there is no national riding licence, meaning jockeys are forced to obtain separate licenses under separate conditions in each state. It is high time the board realised that racing is a national industry & treated it as such. The current licensing system is holding the industry back & unfairly penalising jockeys. Racing is now a truly national industry. Jockeys often travel state to state to ride. It is ridiculous that they not only have to go through the rigmarole of filling out the paperwork in each state, but they also have to fork out the money for the different licenses. Jockeys are forking out thousands of dollars to be registered in each state, just in case they get called upon to ride elsewhere. When you take into consideration many jockeys are struggling to make ends meet as a result of poor wages in the industry, it's a cost that many simply can't afford. It's absurd that you can get a driver's licence in one state that allows you to drive in all the others, but you can't do the same with a jockey's licence. It's about time the ARB took a common sense approach to licensing & introduced a national scheme."