Weighed down by woes of young jockeys straying down the precarious path of illegal substances, we may be inclined to overlook the positives in racing. For instance, is there a better example of the exemplary side of the business than evergreen jockey Robert Thompson?

There was the temptation to refer to the 53-year-old as a veteran jockey but that wouldn't sit well and, anyway, he is riding with the zest and zeal of much younger opposition. Having ridden more than 3500 winners he is, as the American race fans term quaintly and ungrammatically, "the winningest jockey" in Australia.

These days of jockeys riding with exaggerated short stirrup leathers and aping ballet dancers en pointe with their toe-in-the-irons style, Thompson stoically rides against the tide. His leathers are longer and his feet are clamped firmly in the irons which makes him very hard to unseat. Perfectly balanced and superbly fit he may well emulate the late Jack Thompson (no relation) who rode his final race winner at the age of 62 in 1985 after an eminent career in the saddle.

George Bernard Shaw is credited with saying that youth is wasted on the young and one folly of the young is that it is hard to tell them anything. But if the junior jockeys were inclined to look for a role model they shouldn't go any further than Robert Thompson.

There will be a lot of interest in the two-year-old Bossdon City from the Brett Cavanough stable when the gelding shapes up in the Centennial Park Handicap at Randwick this weekend. Bossdon City made a dazzling debut at Rosehill in January and was one of the favourites for the Blue Diamond Stakes but didn't train on and was spelled after just three starts.

Resuming with a tidy effort at Flemington last month he gets his chance on Saturday with the talented apprentice Blake Spriggs claiming two kilo claim and reducing the handicap impost to a more attractive 55 kilograms.

The blunt speaking and direct trainer Brett Cavanough came up with an interesting suggestion during the Sky Sports Radio program Punters Post Mortem last Monday. His phone call followed considerable discussion on drug education and general tutoring of apprentice jockeys. Cavanough declared that country apprentices may have been overlooked and he suggested disqualified jockeys Peter Robl and Blake Shinn, currently serving down time because of having been found guilty of betting, should be enlisted. According to Cavanough, the two outed jockeys have plenty of spare time on their hands and they should be recruited to talk to jockeys about keeping on the straight and narrow.

It may not be a star-studded line-up but the 3200 metre Queensland Cup hasn't fallen short numerically with a field of 17. The Melbourne mare, Persian Star, is the only metric two-mile winner (Andrew Ramsden Stakes) but I backed her twice earlier in the Winter Carnival and, quite frankly, she was disappointing. Hence I am going to back the Brian Smith-trained, Raeburn. He hasn't won a race beyond 2200 metres but, last Saturday in the 2400 metre Caloundra Cup, was doing his best work from the home turn to finish a tidy fourth.