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A funeral service for Mr Colin 'Chicka' Pearson will be held on Wednesday 17th August at Broulee Memorial Gardens with a wake at Moruya Jockey Club

Moruya Jockey Club has informed Racing NSW of the passing of Mr Colin 'Chicka' Pearson.

MJC wrote: Chicka Pearson was a memorable contributor to the history of Moruya Jockey Club. With his passing, the racing public lost an extraordinary horseman, and a jockey of great skill and flair from a glorious era of racing the like which we will never again have the joy of witnessing.

Chicka Pearson was 11 when he was given a special exemption to leave school to become apprenticed to Batemans Bay trainer and publican Percy Bill. Percy would be Chicka’s lifetime friend and Mentor.

Soon Chicka would be riding for Percy at the races, travelling to Canberra, Wagga Wagga, Nowra and Moruya. He would work for Percy until the age of 17 when he went to Sydney to the Stan Lamond stables.

The work was hard and tedious. He confronted Mr Lamond about getting a ride and Stan did on a horse called Tap Toe at Rosehill whereby Chicka bought home his first metropolitan winner. The following Saturday at Randwick he had seven rides.

At the age of 21, Chicka finished his apprenticeship and became a Fully Fledged Jockey. It was at this time in Sydney that his mother died in an accident. Florence was very proud of Chicka and had been visiting to watch him ride.

Chicka's next move was to Brisbane where he raced for Fred Best and one of his rides was for the Duke of Norfolk. He won the British Commonwealth Handicap at Eagle Farm in 1960 aboard Melroy.

He returned to Sydney where he continued to ride. Chicka found it difficult to maintain a racing weight and left Sydney to race in the country.

Not long after, a remarkable offer was made to Chicka to ride in Milan, Italy. This included free Pan Am flights, a chauffeur, a valet to assist with all his racing gear, a new car, 1000 pounds and 10% of the winnings of the first five winners. Yes, he accepted. One of the owners he rode for was Prince Ali Khan who was married to Rita Hayworth.

He also rode in France where in one race he carried the Queen's colours. All up Chicka would ride 1024 winners.

Returning to Australia Chicka continued to race the country circuit and was at a dance in Bega when he met a remarkable lady, Shirley Cochrane whom he would marry in 1973.

They had four children Cindy, Greg, Neville and William. Greg is now a Steward in England, Willy was the top NSW country apprentice in 2004 and Cindy is a licensed trainer married to jockey Neil Berriman.

Chicka turned to training horses and trained for Jim Bell, head of the AJC. He returned to Batemans Bay where he remained ever since, his racing colours of black with an orange sash being Percy Bill’s original colours.

Chicka trained 195 winners including 42 at Moruya, 27 at Sapphire Coast, 25 at Queanbeyan, 18 at Goulburn and 14 at Canberra.