Jockey Turned Customs Broker wins Top Prize at Richard Davis Awards
Former Flat jockey, David Parkes (31) has won the top prize at the JETS Richard Davis Awards. He received the £3000 Jockey Club Achievement Award at a special presentation ceremony at Warwick Racecourse today, hosted by Tom Scudamore. The Award recognizes the career development David has made since 2017 when he stopped riding and decided to pursue a career in logistics.
Parkes established his Northern Ireland based company DAP Shipping in 2019, working with agents and hauliers all over Europe, managing the import and export of a range of goods in the post Brexit landscape. Supported by JETS, he has gained various customs and trade qualifications and shown huge determination to embrace his second career and continually learn more about international customs to help his business grow. Working with the likes of Volvo Trucks UK and Dublin Airport Authority, he now plans to expand the business into other industries including the Thoroughbred industry where he will be able to combine his passion for racing and logistics.
Acknowledging his achievement, David said:
“I am incredibly proud to have won this award as it is a reflection on how far I have come since having to stop riding due to an ongoing injury. I have had the help of JETS with the funding of several courses from accountancy through to my custom courses and I would not have success in my new career path without them.”
Lisa Delany, JETS Manager, said: “We have been so impressed with what David has achieved in his second career. He has always shown a great attitude to acquiring new skills starting with an accountancy course he did whilst injured. He has been able to transfer his obvious communication and networking skills as a jockey into his new role and we are delighted that his hard work has paid off.”
Former Jump Jockey Ryan Hatch (30) has won the £2000 IJF Progress Award. The Grade 1 winning jockey was forced to retire from racing due to injury and earlier this year was successfully recruited as a Training Instructor and Assessor for the RMF group in the West Midlands which provides Equine training to unemployed people and also has delivered courses in prisons. He has thrived in the role where he has been able to share his passion for horses with students, many of whom have never worked with horses before. He has shown great enthusiasm for his new role which is so different to what he’s done before and is now carrying out a Level 3 Vocational Achievement qualification in order to improve further.
The BHA Development Award, worth £1000, is exclusively for current jockeys and this year’s winner is Apprentice Olivia Tubb (21), based with Jonathan Portman in Lambourn. Olivia has an impressive strike rate having ridden 10 winners from 62 rides and has applied herself diligently to all aspects of her career working closely with her Jockey Coach George Baker as well as taking advantage of nutrition, strength and conditioning, media training and performance psychology support. She was also one of the first jockeys to apply for the JETS Personal Development grant available to jockeys with less than 50 rides in order to complete a gym instructor course whilst injured.
JETS first hosted the Richard Davis Awards in 1997 in memory of jockey Richard Davis who had started planning for his future before he tragically lost his life in a race fall in 1996. The annual awards highlight the career development of both former jockeys and current jockeys and showcase the services provided by JETS to help jockeys prepare for their futures in order to secure a successful transition from riding.