With six months left on his indentures, George transferred to Ken Mellows who was the private trainer to Jack Pollock and Hath Milne, who owned a large string of race horses. During his time as an apprentice he attended the Waikato jockey school at Te Rapa, where he rubbed shoulders with local apprentices such as Alan Jones, Trevor McKee and Royce Dowling. Others to attend the apprentice school were Jim Gibbs who travelled from Matamata and Des, John and Noel Riordan from Te Awamutu. The Te Rapa trainers of the day included Ray Cotter, Harry Long, Jack and Bill Winder and Myrtle Sloan.
After his apprenticeship he did his CMT (Compulsory Military Training), with the army cooking resulting in George putting on more weight than is desirable for a jockey. At the end of the three months of CMT, he relocated to ride work for Merv Ritchie at Ellerslie.
In the 1950s many horses were trained at the Auckland headquarters. It was while in the employ of Merv Ritchie that Lawson was legged up on champion sprinting mare Yahabeebe in work.
"While Yahabeebe was brilliant, she was not the fastest horse I rode. That honour belonged to Mr Mink trained by Brian Deacon at Hawera, who was a freak in the times that he could run."
After nine months at Ellerslie, a conversation at the races one day with Deacon, saw Lawson on the move to Hawera, where he rode from his Taranaki base for a decade. With race riding taking place just one day a week, the industrious jockey mixed riding horses with selling menswear in the best menswear shop in Hawera.
As a jockey George rode around 90 winners.
"The best horses that I threw a leg over in work were Yahabeebe, Mr Mink and Syntax. The Manawatu Cup on Anacapri was my biggest win while I also rode top liners such as Donald Dinnie, Foxdonna and Bright Coral."
As a heavyweight jockey he also rode over the fences.
"I won races on Robert Craig and Royal Courage and rode Teak as a 4-year-old twice finishing second".
Teak trained by Freda White went on to annex most of the major jumping races in the country and won a race at 15 years of age.
In 1968, Lawson applied to the New Zealand Racing Conference to become an assistant stipendiary steward.
"I went to the races at Palmerston and exchanged pleasantries with the Chief Stipe Phil Read, without a word being spoken about my application. When I got back to Hawera on Saturday night, there was a letter in the post telling me to be at the Waverly races on Wednesday to start my duties as an assistant stipe.
"When I got to Waverly a couple of trainers insisted that I was booked for their horses, so I rode in the first two races, then changed into a suit and made my way to the stipes tower on the far side of the course."
The role of the stipendiary stewards has always been to ensure that all horses and riders receive equal and unhindered opportunities to win the race.
"In my early days there were no race films, so our duties were to report and give evidence to the judicial panel of any interference caused during the race.
"The pressure really went on in the early days of filming, when the chief stipe would show the film behind closed doors, then we would be called to give supporting evidence hoping that you had seen it as it panned out on film."
During 1968, the Taranaki based assistant stipendiary steward was transferred to Palmerston North where he also took up the role of the Manawatu Riding Master.
"I didn't have much time to myself, as I was selling menswear at a top quality menswear shop in Palmerston, along with my assistant stipe and riding master roles."
The jockey mentor role provided Lawson with some of his most satisfying times in the racing industry. Among those to come under his tutelage were champion apprentices Brent Thompson and Noel Harris. Thompson went on to ride a multitude of winners worldwide, with Harris still kicking home winners today with all the enthusiasm of his apprentice jockey days. Others to be mentored by Lawson included Stephen Jenkins, Brendan Clements who became a leading jockey in Victoria and Scott Hammersley.
"In my days as riding master we had 60 apprentices on the roll with up to 55 attending the fortnightly sessions".
After applying for a permanent Stipendiary Steward position, life went full circle for Lawson when he was appointed to a Waikato position based at Te Rapa. At the interview he was asked his opinion on licensing lady riders, who in the 1970s were restricted to riding in non tote powder-puff derbies.
"I replied that they have all the attributes of male jockeys with my only concern being their ability to take a hard fall. Time has proven that they can handle adversity as well as their male counterparts, with a number going on to excel over the jumps."
Lawson's only regret on joining the stipendiary stewards panel was that he could no longer socialise with his many friends from the jockeys and trainers ranks.
"The role of the stipendiary steward is to be completely impartial and I tried to treat the jockeys and trainers as I would want to be treated. I had no enjoyment in charging jockeys but safety out on the track is always the first consideration. I tried to be fair and consistent and earn the jockeys respect and even today when I go to the races most of the jockeys still call me Mr Lawson."
When asked about the best horses he had seen, he came up with Mainbrace as top of the list.
"He was only beaten twice in 25 races and won from sprints to a mile and a half. Two others to receive top billing were Sunline and Balmerino."
Lawson says Bill Broughton and Grenville Hughes were both outstanding jockeys with Lance O'Sullivan of the more modern era right up there.
"Of the many apprentices that I have seen, there were none better than Brent Thompson and Opie Bosson."
In the trainers' ranks he had special praise for Taranaki's Brian Deacon, Brian Hart and Walter McEwan when located in Hawera. However, he singled out the best trainer he had seen as Eric Ropiha, who trained at Woodville, as the complete horseman.
Looking back at his over 50 years in the racing game Lawson says the most satisfying part was helping and looking after the many youngsters who came into the industry during his time.
These days he is happily retired in Bethlehem, with snooker at the Citizens Club on a Monday and the annual whitebaiting trips to Mokau to catch up with old mates, always high on his agenda.
