Thursday, 16 January 2020: One is on the ground and the other is mounted and riding alongside the three track riding trainees, with both intermittently shouting out instructions at their class around the Kranji trotting ring.

Both instructors are former jockeys, current Singapore Turf Club apprentice and claiming jockey coach Matthew Pumpa, and his predecessor Damien Kinninmont who still gives a helping hand despite his busy schedule as a starter and horse barrier educator.

A track riding lesson at the Trotting Ring (Track 8) in session.

"Move your shoulders back! This horse has a short neck and you have to adjust your posture and your reins!" Kinninmont barked as one trainee cantered past looking a little awkward in the saddle.

The current batch of the Singapore Training Academy for Racing (STAR) track riding course attendees look concentrated on their horses - mostly grey starter hacks - despite the unforgiving high-noon sun blazing down in its full glory on the unsheltered sand track.

Damien Kinninmont (right), Ronedin Osman (middle) and Matthew Pumpa (on horse) with (from left to right) Hadi Razak, Dinie Razak and Jamil Sarwi.

They know they could not have wished for better-qualified masters in helping them realise their dream of becoming a professional track rider one day.

The track riding course module is six-month long, but it's only at this year's intake that a two-month hands-on segment was introduced into the curriculum. It basically delves right into the contrasting world of riding a powerful thoroughbred.

"We saw too often that some of the past graduates were not well-equipped when they were thrown in at the deep end with a trainer, after having learned only basic riding," said Pumpa, a former Racing Victoria jockey coach, who was appointed by the Singapore Turf Club in 2019.

"Now after they spend the first four months at the Riding Centre getting the basic foundation, we take over them for two months to show them the transition from basic riding to track riding.

"I'm not alone in this, it's a teamwork. Damien, assistant-starter Ronedin Osman and Vijay, one of the clerks of the course, all help me out with the boys."

A Group 1-winning Victorian jockey who retired from the saddle in 2014 and even rode at Kranji in 2005 and 2007, Pumpa was mounted on retired racehorse Clutha Lad during the hour-long riding lesson, held twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays after trackwork.

Riding side by side with his students, Pumpa would correct their posture among others, while performing a demo on his own mount for that value-add visual effect. At times, the former 600-odd race winner would bring up the rear to keep the troop in a perfect Indian file, or coax a horse not responding under the inexperienced pair of hands back onto the right track.

Railside, Kinninmont would also share with the group what they are doing right or wrong, ready whenever necessary to ask Vijay or Ronedin to translate his instructions in Malay to avoid misunderstanding.

The learning session continues even after the horses are walked back to the stables where the three pupils hose off their horses, followed by a group and/or one-on-one debrief to go through their riding lesson.

It's now been 10 weeks – including four weeks of break in December - since the three track riding trainees have left the Riding Centre, and the transformation into shorter riding style is already showing.

"Today's lesson was Week 6, and we also run classrooms where they learn about other aspects of track riding," said Kinninmont on Tuesday.

"We teach them track rules, the different gaits of the horse, the times per furlong. It's important they learn from the start how to clock their speed.

"They only learn up to trot and canter before they are assigned over to their respective trainers. We sign them off at slow work and they then come under the trainer's responsibility.

"It's up to the trainer to determine their ability and decide when they are ready to gallop. That's why we feel those two months with us will make a huge difference."

Currently a syce with trainer Donna Logan, Hadi Razak, 23, has always wanted to jump on top of horses rather than just leading and grooming them, and felt he was making good inroads.

"I was working as a security guard and never rode a horse before. Then one day, my friend Fahmy, who is an apprentice track rider with Saimee (Jumaat), said I had the perfect body for the job and asked me if I'd be interested to do the same thing," said Hadi.

"I thought why not, and I joined the STAR programme in February last year. They placed me with Donna Logan.

"I have learned a lot since I joined her stable. I was a bit scared the first time, but the feeling was amazing afterwards.

"I'm enjoying it and loving it. Mr Pumpa and Mr Damien have helped and guided me a lot.

"I have fallen a few times, but I have always been told to get back on the horse, I won't give up."

The other two track rider apprentices are Jamil Sarwi, 22, of Choa Chu Kang and Dinie Razak, 24, of Marsiling. They work for Saimee and Cliff Brown respectively.