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where the horse is always the hero
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Posted 2018-08-03 09:56:03  
Ferraris Progressing through the Apprentice Ranks


It seems like it’s just the other day that Luke Ferraris had his first winner at the Vaal aboard VIVIR, trained by his legendary Grandfather Ormond Ferraris. But in the space of just over 4 months since this first win, on the 24th of April, the young apprentice has gone on to record 25 more wins, to take his tally to 26, and in doing so he has also lost his 4kg claim and is now claiming 2, 5 kg. We chatted to this upcoming young apprentice to find out more about his recent success and his plans for the rest of the year.
From the minute you speak to Luke, you can see how much he loves horses and horse racing! His whole demeanour changes to excitement and delight when you ask him about some of his winning rides and he speaks with immense pride about some of the horses he has ridden for his Grandfather and especially those in his Dad’s colours!
Luke’s family connection to racing is very strong with his Grandfather and Father both being Champion Trainers in South Africa who have trained many champion racehorses. It therefore was a logical progression that this young man followed his dream of becoming a jockey and became an apprentice jockey at the South African Jockey Academy! What is of interest is that Luke ascribes his recent success to his family!
Luke explains that as long as he can remember he has been watching races with his Mom and Dad and he feels growing up immersed in horse racing gives an apprentice a huge advantage! He says that you are not starting from scratch like many of the other apprentices as you have experience being around horses in a racing yard and you understand how horseracing works. This allowed Luke to focus on his riding, which resulted in him starting to race ride in the last month of his 1st year as an apprentice.
But this advantage did not stop once he had started race riding, as Luke explains, my Mom and Dad are both experts at reading races, and they watch all of my rides and give me great analysis and feedback after every race meeting. This is a wonderful advantage to have as an apprentice, as it allows me to really work on my race riding technique, and review any errors and mistakes and focus on eliminating and preventing them for happening again.
Luke also attributes a lot of his recent success on the wonderful partnership he has established with his Grandfather Ormond Ferraris, and proudly says “Grandad is the best trainer I know, he helps me a lot, and I improve with ever ride he gives me!” Luke further explained that his Grandfather is an old school trainer with tons of racing knowledge and being exposed to this and the feedback that he receives after each ride, has also helped him to grow and mature as an apprentice! Luke also highlighted that the trust there is between him and his Grandfather is critical saying “I trust the instructions he gives me, he knows his horses inside and out, and his instructions are always spot on, I always follow them to the T and they have always been correct!”
Luke also ascribes a lot of his success to traveling a lot recently saying “racing in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth has also given me a lot of valuable experience and I have learnt something new at each of the race tracks!” The young apprentice also alluded to fact that riding winners lately has given him a lot of confidence and is looking forward to racing in the next few months. When asked about future goals, Luke’s answer is simple and to the point saying “my short-term goal is to ride 60 winners before the end of the year, and after that my target will be to ride 100 winners by early 2019”. With the confidence and maturity this young apprentice is currently riding and the support and insight of his family, Luke will surely not only achieve but exceed his goals!
 

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