JIMMIE, STAR Writer

JOCKEY Omar Walker's former agent, Gary 'Glasses' Reid, said he plans to take time off to travel with his family before turning his attention to the new group of apprentices due out in September.

"A new batch of apprentices is coming out and I have been getting multiple requests," he said.

Reid also has an interest in acquiring an assistant trainer's licence but can't hold more than one permit, a Jamaica Racing Commission restriction on racing professionals and owners.

Having spent eight years with Walker, during which he won more than 900 races with the rider, Reid said he has accepted the jockey's decision, which he described as "inevitable", hinting that their professional relationship had soured.

"A nuh everything good fi eat good fi talk. My wife and trainer Fitzgerald Richards know best; they know it all," Reid said on Wednesday, two days after Walker switched agents to Leroan 'Bredda' Lee, who handles the book of rival jockey Dane Nelson.

Reid stayed away from details of any specific incident that might have led to the split, though hinting that trouble was brewing in their professional relationship.

"I have no problem with anything anybody chooses to do. I went eight years with him without a break. I am tired of the politics involved in the game. Parting ways was inevitable. I was just going through the motions. I didn't care anymore," he said.

Despite Walker's immense talent, which saw him winning four consecutive jockeys' championships, Reid was often cited as a hindrance to the rider not being able to win another title after leaving champion trainer Wayne DaCosta's barn midway the first quarter of 2011.

"Anybody who believes that would be an idiot - anybody who knows anything about horseracing in Jamaica," he hit back.

"When I took up Walker in January 2007, he had won 10 races as an apprentice. I took him from 10 to more than 900 winners and multiple records - the only rider in the history of local racing to have won back-to-back five-timers. No Winston Griffiths ... Charles Hussey ... George HoSang ... Emilio Rodriquez, no Trevor Simpson has ever done that," Reid said, naming Caymanas Park's most revered and storied riders.

"This man has the fastest 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, and 800 in the history of local racing, and I was a hindrance to him?" questioned Reid.