I don’t think that there has ever been quite the number of father/son combinations riding in races in Australia as we have now. And when you add in the recently retired riders, and the sons of older retired riders, then it’s easy to see that Australian racing doesn’t need to worry about the depth of riding talent for some time to come.

Let’s look at some examples.

Steven King has an outstanding race riding record spanning Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Kingdom and Dubai and including the Melbourne jockeys premiership and the Scobie Breasley Medal in 1996/7. He has won 53 Group Ones, including the 1991 Melbourne Cup & the 1991 Caulfield Cup on the great mare Let’s Elope for Bart Cummings and the 2003 Cox Plate on Fields Of Omagh. Nowadays, he is looking at taking out a dual jockey-trainer licence in Victoria. But those plans are on hold for a bit and the motivation for that is to be able to ride against his son, Lachlan, currently one of Victorian racing’s top apprentices. Lachlan has a winning percentage around 10% over his short career, and has clearly not fallen far from the tree.

Also based in Victoria and with a recently announced and health-enforced retirement from race riding, we have Dylan Dunn, son of Dwayne. Dylan was last year’s Victorian champion apprentice, and rode 130 winners before a bout with glandular fever, and the struggles with wasting whilst dealing with the effects of that illness, forced him to retire to preserve his health. It was a short, but bright career, highlighted by a winner for Queen Elizabeth on Bold Sniper in 2016. Had the illness not happened, it was a fair bet that Dylan would have emulated his dad’s riding feats. Dwayne Dunn’s career, like Steven King’s, has seen international exposure, with a successful stint in Hong Kong. His record claims 15 Group Ones, including the 2005 Blue Diamond on Undoubtedly, the 2006 Caulfield Cup and the 2006 Metropolitan on Tawfeeq, the 2012 Caulfield Guineas, C F Orr Stakes, Futurity Stakes and All Aged Stakes on All Too Hard and the 2012 Sydney Cup on Niwot.

Let’s move north to Queensland. Mick Dittman, “The Enforcer”, was just a legend. From an apprenticeship on the Gold Coast in the mid-1960’s, this dedicated Queenslander was eventually enticed to Sydney in the mid-1980’s by the equally legendary Tommy Smith to become stable jockey for Tulloch Lodge. He won the Sydney jockeys premiership three times and was renowned for his powerful style. Many a win in a race was put down to his ability to physically lift a horse over the line! He won a Melbourne Cup, a Caulfield Cup, two Cox Plates, three Golden Slippers, two VRC Derbies, two AJC Derbies, three AJC Oaks, four BMW Stakes and an Epsom – amongst a raft of other feature races. Who is to say that Luke Dittman, Mick’s son now enjoying success in Queensland racing, won’t get up there as well? With a win ratio around 16%, and just starting on his career as a senior rider, the opportunity is there to do just that.

Must be something to do with the Queensland sunshine. They also have Beau Appo, son of Lyle, and Travis Wolfgram, son of Peter, amongst others.

Back in Victoria, Beau Mertens is vying for the Victorian jockeys premiership. Beau is the son of Peter Mertens, once known as the King of the Bush in Victorian provincial and country racing, before an injury-enforced retirement. Beau, like Luke Dittman, has a win ratio hovering around 16%, and that’s a very healthy record.

And then there is Glyn Schofield and son Chad. Glyn as one of Sydney’s leading riders, and Chad established in Hong Kong and in strong demand at the Australian Carnivals.

There are plenty more. Patrick Scorse has just started his apprenticeship, and his dad, John, is enjoying previewing races on Sky Channel in which his son is riding. Doesn’t tip him all the time, either!

But perhaps the most famous father and son combination in Australian race riding history are the Moores – George and Gary. In the late 1960’s father George and son Gary polarised Sydney racing. It really was the Moores against the rest, with the family pair winning nearly every major race in Sydney during that period. The two of them regularly fought out race finishes, with George goading his son to “push harder”! In one afternoon at Randwick, George rode five straight winners, and Gary rode a double. 7 wins to the Moores on an 8 race programme. And it wasn’t always pretty. One day at Rosehill, Gary was looking to get up inside George in the straight, not a smart move with George at any time, and George yelled “Don’t even think about it, kid!” But youth has its’ way and next second Gary is lying on the track. George actually finished the race, jumped off his mount, gave it to one of the gardeners to lead back to the mounting yard and ran back to check out his son.

The Moore’s were the only father-son combination to ride in the Melbourne Cup, in 1968, until Glyn and Chad Schofield gained the same distinction in 2014.

Australian racing has a proud history of sons following fathers into riding as well as training – and it is simply great for the sport!