15th Aug 2006 : Today we meet the in-form jockey of the moment, Shane Scriven. After his recent rides on the iron horse Consular, and plenty of other winners since his recent comeback, it’s an appropriate time to find out more about him. Shane is a Brisbane boy, with a pony-club background. He was always small and since he loved horses it was never in doubt what he was going to do.
Shane started out his apprenticeship with Tommy Dawson at Eagle Farm and owes much of his early development to him and the legendary Graham Cook. Shane is nearing 1000 winners, and at 40 feels about another 5 years in the game will see him out. The 3 Group One wins – Tingo Tango in the 1985 Flight Stakes and Prince Salieri two victories are the highlights of his career. The best horse he has ridden is Rough Habit and the best horse he has seen is Kingston Town.
For Shane, the best part of being a jockey is the thrill of winning, and the worst part of the job is the way it effects your lifestyle with the amount of time dedicated to the cause. Shane lives at Clayfield with his wife and 3yo daughter and to relax he enjoys a nice quiet Sunday lunch, a Breaky Creek Steak would be perfect but its been a while since he has been able to enjoy one.
Shane is always cautious with his weight and works very hard to be able to ride as low as about 54kg. He enjoys a nice glass of red, and when he can have a quick splurge he hears the colonel calling and loves nothing better than a couple of pieces of KFC. Shane has had plenty of injuries along the way, a broken back in Macau in 2002 the worst. If there was one thing Shane would like to see improved it would be to have jockeys treated more like elite professional athletes, in a similar way to Australians treat our footballers and cricketers etc. Whilst Shane’s career is nearing its end, he will ride plenty more winners and be an invaluable asset to the younger jockeys.
