Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

The recent New Zealand First tribute to the passing of legendary New Zealand jockey Bob Skelton on SunLive, got me thinking about the kiwi hoops that had crossed the ditch to ride in Australia.

Hector Gray and several of his contemporaries rode with great success in Australia during the 1930's.

However, there was plenty of disdain for the kiwi jockeys after WW2, with the likes of New Zealand champion jockey Grenville Hughes receiving a grilling from Sydney and Melbourne media and punters alike.

The 1970's saw jockeys from the shaky isles start to earn respect in the hotbed of the Australian racing.

Kiwi hoops such as Gary Willetts, Brian Andrews and a little later RJ Skelton, kicked home top line New Zealand thoroughbreds, to beat the best that the Aussies could offer on their home turf.

Horses such as Battle Heights, Magistrate and Van der Hum with kiwi jockeys aboard made the Australian race goers sit up and take notice.

In the 1980's it was the turn of father and son Dave (trainer) and Lance (jockey) O'Sullivan to bring some of the jewels of Australian thoroughbred racing back across the Tasman.

In more recent times, Michael Walker and James McDonald won the New Zealand champion jockey title, before riding with outstanding success in Melbourne and Sydney respectively.

A flick through the Queensland race fields on arrival on our current holiday sojourn on the Sunshine Coast, revealed a apprentice jockey who rode from the Gate Pa stables of Brian McKeagg a couple of season ago.

Josh Oliver arrived in the Western Bay of Plenty in early 2014 with just a couple of wins under his belt. Apprenticed to a big Waikato stable, he received little opportunity being well down the pecking order when seeking rides.

His transfer of indentures to the McKeagg stable kickstarted his riding career with winners starting to flow.

Josh became a regular visitor to the Racing Tauranga office as he jumped on the scales to check his weight.

A injury break saw Olliver return back to the Waikato for rehabilitation. Another change of his apprenticeship back to the Waikato resulted in the young hoop starting to make a name for himself.

Following in the recent footsteps of other kiwi apprentices such as Bridget Grylls and Amelia Denby, Josh then transferred his indentures to the Australian Sunshine State.

Most Kiwi apprentice jockeys have a advantage in Australia, dropping back to a three kilo claim, in spite of having lost most of their advantage at home.

This is due to the three divisions of country, provincial and metropolitan racing.

While Josh started out riding on country tracks such as Kilcoy, Beaudersert and Dalby, he quickly lost his country and provincial claim. In recent months he has graduated to metropolitan race riding alongside the best jockeys in Queensland.

Queensland trainers have been quick to gain weight relief for the top weights, putting Josh aboard some very good horses.

A measure of Josh's popularity is that last Saturday he had five mounts in town at Doomben, while plenty of experienced jockeys sat on the sideline. However, the real test of Josh's success across the Tasman, will come when he starts to lose his three kilo advantage.

Post Scipt: my pick of the Courier Mail attention grabbing sports headlines last week was "Black belting - but better than Sydney" in reference to the All Blacks win in Wellington.