MANY are called few are chosen. Jockey Shane Ellis, otherwise called the ‘Canter Man’, has been chosen. He has that special knack for winning big races whether they be Classics or other major races.

Ellis simply knows what to do at always the right time. Sure he is human and makes mistakes, but more often than not he is able to get the best out of his mounts to the benefit of his trainers, the owners of horses he rides and the public who simply adore him.

Ellis has that touch which removes him from being just another rider plying a trade. His gifts are good race assessment, timing and the physical capacity to undertake a preferred course of action. He never seems to be frustrated or arrogant about his riding at all times having a smile and friendly words while parading before the stands or when returning to the winners’ unsaddling enclosure. Put another way, the ‘Canter Man’ is also a showman, hence his enduring popularity with racing fans.

While these will always be admirable traits for any jockey, Ellis is excellent in the saddle. Let us analyse the 10th race on Saturday last. The race was an Open Allowance over 1,500 metres, run for the King’s Plate. It was an impressive lot of horses which faced the starter including Time For Arms (Shamaree Muir), Aventura (Dick Cardenas), Reasonable Press (Winston Griffiths), Typewriter (Shane Ellis), Uncle Donny (Renardo McNaughton), and Rio Cobre (Leo Miller).

Typewriter, trained by man-of-the-moment Spencer Chung, was giving lumps of weight all-round, as he sought to vault himself into the top class of racing.

As expected, Rio Cobre set off as if it was a five-furlong sprint event with Typewriter sticking at his heels. This match race lasted for the first three, three-and-a- half furlongs of the race before Ellis realised that competing against Rio Cobre was not the best option. Noticeably, he pulled Typewriter from the headlines going around the turn, relegating himself to fourth/fifth as Aventura, Reasonable Press, and Time For Arms started to get into position for their runs in the straight.

At this time most persons watching the race surely thought that the chances of Typewriter had dissipated. Ellis, realising there was no sense going to rails, guided Typewriter to the outside where he started to mount a challenge.

In the stretch run, Typewriter was storming on the wide outside; Reasonable Press was eating up the ground just besides; Aventura was still in the thick of things; Rio Cobre was not stopping, and Time For Arms was hugging the rails as he galloped forward.

Excitement engulfed the racetrack as the horses thundered forward, and in the end Ellis prevailed ‘in the glass’. The final result, first Typewriter; second Reasonable Press; third Rio Cobre; fourth Time For Arms and fifth Aventura, and the winning margins — a head, by a head, by a short head, by a short head. What a finish, a finish which sent the crowd at the Park into raptures of joy.

The riding by Ellis was from the top drawer, the very top and underlined his status as the best rider in the country at the moment. Ellis’s performance on Typewriter is one which four-time champion Omar Walker should watch over and over and over again. In the 2000 Guineas run on April 6, Walker found himself in a similar situation while on board Bigman In Town. Walker instead of backing off the early pace set in blistering fashion by Crucial Appeal, decided to take him on. Both horses found the going tough in the straight, as Willie Goldsmith with Ellis in the saddle claimed another Classic victory.

Racing experts, and so too this writer, are of the view that had Walker not engaged in a match-race with Crucial Appeal, and getting bogged down on the rails, the chances of Bigman In Town would have been greatly enhanced.

When the names of the riding greats are mentioned for sure you will hear George HoSang, Emilio Rodriquez, Arthur Jones, Winston Ellis, Winston Griffiths, and Andrew Ramgeet being called. The name of Shane Ellis probably will not be called, but in the here and now, Shane ‘Canter Man’ Ellis is making a significant impact on the racing product.

More anon!