For the past 55 years Jimmy Mettam has been a familiar face at racing tracks around South Australia, but that will all come to an end on Boxing Day when he performs his Clerk of the Course duties for one last time.
At 70 years of age, Jimmy has decided the time has come to hang up the saddle.
“I think at my age now there’s room for younger ones to come along and take my place so I’ve just made a decision at 70 that’s it."
"I’ve never had a real holiday and I think it’s time I did,” said Jimmy who admits to feeling a tad emotional about his decision to retire.
“Little bit sad. I don’t think it’s really hit yet. Probably another month or so I’ll get up on a Saturday and go – ‘that’s right I’m not working anymore’, and I’ll have to go off and find something else to do and take the pretty partner with me and say ‘what do you want to do today?'”
Jimmy has been around horses ever since he was five when his younger brother was hit by a car. His dad would take them out riding every weekend to help with his brother’s recovery.
Before he became Clerk of the Course – a position he’s held for over 30 years – Jimmy was a successful jockey and trainer who was apprenticed to Pat Barns when he turned 16, and rode for the likes of CS Hayes, JB Cummings, Mick Armfield and Joe Hall.
He was also known for breaking in thoroughbreds and rode champion Rubiton in track work - a strong horse who was hard to hold.
“I’ve had some good highlights looking back over my winnings,” Jimmy said.
“I won the SA Derby, I also won the main sprints of the day. The races that I won were top races back then but now they’re renamed into something else.
“I had a good life as a rider and then I trained quit a few good winners for a while, then I went colt breaking and then finally Clerk of the Course.”
Jimmy will now have a lot more time to spend tending to his own horses on the farm in Meadows, but admits retiring will leave a big void in his life.
It’s the adrenaline rush on race days he’ll miss the most.
“I describe the job as 99 percent boring you might say but then one percent pure hell when you’re chasing a loose horse and things like that.
“We’ve had situations where a rider was getting dragged at Oakbank and we were just sitting there thinking what are we doing here, and we weren’t allowed to go in because he was still a runner, so they were thrilling times you might say.”
As was the case at his final meeting at Strathalbyn, a presentation will be held for Jimmy at Morphettville on Sunday honouring his career.
