Little Australian bounder disheartening a jockey (4)
I believe the answer is:
joey
'little australian bounder' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'disheartening a jockey' is the wordplay.
'disheartening' suggests removing the centre.
'jockey' with its middle taken out is 'JOEY'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for joey that I've seen before include "Sydney's youngster" , "Baby boomer's" , "Young kangaroo" , "Threepenny bit" , "jumper, in a pocket?" .)