'Senior jockeys would scream at you in front of everyone' - Franny Norton lifts the lid on the old-school weighing room

Franny Norton hopes to mentor younger athletes following his retirement from the saddle last weekend, utilising a mindset that was shaped by entering an altogether more difficult weighing room for youngsters more than 30 years ago.

Norton was speaking to the Racing Post for a major interview in Sunday’s newspaper after 36 years in the saddle, discussing the ups and downs of a career that saw him win several of the biggest races in Britain either side of a dip that prompted a brief foray into the world of boxing.

The 54-year-old even made the squad for the Commonwealth Games and was considering turning professional when some salient words of advice from a friend persuaded him to give racing another chance – not that his experience in the boxing world didn’t prove handy at times given some of what went on in the weighing room.

“We had some real fun,” said Norton, recalling a period when drinking culture was in full swing and there was more than a touch of the Wild West about the place, but it could also be extremely tough.

"Some of the senior jockeys back in the day would scream at you across the floor in front of everyone – I think they thought they might need a bit of back-up if I ended up coming at them! – but that's just how it was," he said.

Norton chose to do things differently when gaining senior status himself, so much so he is now convinced he has the right mindset to assist youngsters as they start out.

"From that I learned that if a kid needed some help, I'd go and sit down next to them, where nobody else could hear, because they'd pick up more than they would from somebody screaming at them.

"Kids in the weighing room today have everything they need to make them as good as they can be, as long as they're prepared to listen, but that's a challenge in itself."

Read more from Franny Norton in The Big Read, available in Sunday's newspaper or online for Members' Club Ultimate subscribers from 6pm on Saturday. Click here to sign up.

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