Most jockeys wouldn't want to be seen in McDonald's but the fast food empire was where young Queensland apprentice Jag Guthmann-Chester cooked up his passion for racing.
The promising 18-year-old hoop from the Gold Coast will front up for only his second Saturday metropolitan meeting when he has three rides at Doomben on Saturday.
He says it will really be his first Saturday meeting in the big smoke as his previous Saturday metro meeting was on the Sunshine Coast and the small crowd there made it feel more like Sunday racing.
Guthmann-Chester has come a long way since only a few years ago when he was making Big Macs and Cheeseburgers at McDonald's and had zero interest in racing.
"I grew up in the shadows of the Gold Coast Turf Club but I didn't know anything about horses and I was a typical Gold Coast kid who loved to surf," Guthmann-Chester said.
"I was working at Macca's when I was in Grade 10 at school when my grandfather told me I should go for an interview as an apprentice jockey as I had always been a small kid.
"I hated school so I thought I would give it a go.
"I went and saw (trainer) Bruce Hill and I couldn't believe it but he gave me a job.
"When I knew I had got the job I rode my pushbike down to his stables to show some mates a few of the horses that I would be riding.
"I put my head over a fence and went to pat a horse and I got scared and thought it might not be for me."
It didn't take Guthmann-Chester long to learn the ropes and he kicked off his career riding a winner on the dirt track at Gympie.
He flourished when he rode plenty of winners in Toowoomba and most recently enjoyed a terrific season on the Gold Coast where he won the apprentice's title.
It wasn't all plain sailing and the youngster admits he stuffed up when he served a three-month suspension for returning a positive result to cannabis early last year.
"It was a silly mistake and as soon as I did it, I regretted it," he says.
"When I left school I was hanging out with the wrong crowd but I am not any more.
"My aim is now to win the Brisbane metro apprentices' title this season.
"I am getting a bit of support from trainers like John Meagher and Kelly Schweida so hopefully I can have a decent go at winning the title."
On Saturday at Doomben, Guthmann-Chester rides Alpha Beat ($17), Prince Manitou ($31) and Where's Thatdragon ($41).
