Reports Malaya Riders Are Very Well Paid: Visitor to Australia Says Sport is Third Industry in Straits, Daily Racing Form, 1953-05-18

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Reports Malaya Riders Are Very Wei I Paid Visitor to Australia Says Sport Is Third Industry in Straits By BERT THOMSON Special Correspondent VICTORIA, Australia. — Former Melbourne jockey Alan Lewis, now a turf writer for the Straits Times and racing commentator for Radio Malaya, is at present visiting Victoria. He states that the leading rider in Malaya would earn more in six months than the top-ranking jockeys in Australia would earn in a year. "Racing is the third industry in Malaya.* said Lewis. "Rubber and tin are the first two. Racing provides 15 million Malayan dollars for the government, which is the equivalent of two million Australian pounds. Jockeys earnings can be reckoned up on 50 dollars seven Australian pounds* for a losing rider and 770 dollars 110 Australian pounds for a winning ride. The Aussie system of giving monetary presents to winning jockeys is not practised in Malaya. "Winning percentages are made up of 70 Malayan dollars ten pounds* from the racing clubs and 10 per cent of the winning stakes, which throughout the year average 1,000 pounds. Tullohs earnings last year were 8,060 Malayan dollars and allowing to the Austtralian pound it works out at 12,580 pounds." Tulloh would pay about 2,000 pounds tax. leaving him 10,000 pounds net. According to Lewis, racing at the four Malayan centers of Singapore, Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh has been booming since the end of the war. Clubs have been able to rebuild racecourses that were destroyed during the Japanese occupation and at the same time provide an average of 1,000 pounds first prize throughout the year. Editors Note. — The Australian pound is worth .25 American money at the current rate of exchange."


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1950s/drf1953051801/drf1953051801_35_2
Local Identifier: drf1953051801_35_2
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800