This is a long overdue chat with one of the most respected riders in the Australian amateur ranks. When not competing at faraway picnic meetings, Ricky Blewitt can be found riding trackwork at Narromine before starting his full time job as the Narromine Turf Club’s track manager. The busy horseman speaks highly of the first class country racecourse. Ricky confirms that he rides eight or more horses in trackwork most mornings for his partner Kylie Kennedy. He says Kylie competes mainly at profess...
May 07, 2024•41 min•Ep. 473
Five years ago Scott Singleton found that he was spending much more time on the road to country race meetings than he was at city and provincial meetings. He made the snap decision to put his hand up when boxes became available at Scone. Nowadays he has easy access to any number of country meetings, and an easy run to Sydney when the right horse comes along. Scott says relocating an entire training operation from Hawkesbury was pretty taxing. He admits there was an emotional downside to leaving ...
Apr 30, 2024•42 min•Season 1Ep. 472
I’ve had a number of verbal and email requests to provide a podcast with a former top Queensland jockey who enjoyed a distinguished career despite a torturous battle with weight. Unable to continue with the ravages of the sweat box, Shane Scriven quit the saddle in 2012 to pursue a brand new career with Racing Queensland. Today he’s firmly established as a counsellor and mentor for young jockeys coming through the system. Guess what! We posted a podcast with Shane almost four years ago. In view ...
Apr 23, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 471
The Karen Owen story had potential podcast written all over it from the moment I interviewed her after a recent Randwick win with Fay’s Angels. A horse devotee from an early age, Karen was a whiz at pony club before transitioning to the eventing sport. She dreamed of a job around horses, and jumped to attention when an opportunity came up with the NSW Mounted Police. Thirty three years later she left the force with the rank of Sergeant, and immediately embarked on a racehorse training career. Ka...
Apr 16, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 470
Bryan Martin was in his early 20’s when appointed number three race caller behind Bert Bryant and John Russell on Melbourne’s 3UZ in 1972. Martin went on to a brilliant career in his own right, but not before spending countless hours with John in broadcast boxes throughout Victoria. The two became trusted colleagues and close friends. Nobody is better qualified than Bryan to pay tribute to one of the greats of the trade. He sings the praises of John Russell the race caller, and shares some wonde...
Apr 09, 2024•57 min•Season 1Ep. 469
Larry Cassidy’s sheer consistency as a professional jockey has brought him a strong fan base over almost four decades in the saddle. It’s now more than four months since Larry rode in a race, and the fans are getting restless.The ace jockey joins us on the podcast to talk about the litany of health issues and injuries he’s battled in recent years. He begins by talking about the track fall that left him with a badly broken finger last November. The complications have been endless. Larry takes us ...
Apr 02, 2024•57 min•Season 1Ep. 468
Five winners in a week when you have only twelve horses in work is a notable effort for any trainer. Port Macquarie’s John Sprague did exactly that in the middle of March with doubles at Coffs Harbour and Grafton and a single at Kempsey. John kicked off as an apprentice jockey in the late 1970’s when Canterbury was still a busy training centre. His riding career didn’t get going until he relocated to Port Macquarie. Two hundred wins later he switched to the training business, and has maintained ...
Mar 26, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 467
Always a pleasure to catch up with the bush trainers. Our podcast guest this week is Albury’s Ron Stubbs whose reputation precedes him. Ron is rarely without a handy horse, and he currently prepares Bianco Vilano who’s already safely locked away for the Country Championship Final on April 6th. Ron’s affinity with horses goes back to childhood days in the western Riverina. His training career has been spread over two successful stints. He talks about his first win on returning to training in 2016...
Mar 19, 2024•39 min•Season 1Ep. 466
The Gosford racing precinct has never had a better ambassador than Angela Davies. The amiable trainer was born and reared in a cottage opposite the racecourse float entrance and hasn’t strayed far since. This is the story of a young girl who was pestering local trainers at five or six years of age, and has never wanted to do anything else but train racehorses. Angela had just returned from the Randwick trials when we called, and was pretty excited about one of her twelve horse team. She talks fo...
Mar 12, 2024•41 min•Season 1Ep. 465
I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting Dominic Tourneur but I’m aware of his prominence among Adelaide jockeys and his success rate over a long period of years. We decided to find out a little more about his journey in racing by inviting him onto our podcast, and he was happy to oblige. Dominic was originally apprenticed in Perth but by his own admission was pretty half hearted in those early years. He worked a second job for most of his time in Geraldton where he won seven local premierships. F...
Mar 05, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 464
From the late 70’s to the mid 80’s Brent Thomson was almost certainly Australia’s most high profile jockey. As number one rider for the powerful Lindsay Park training operation, he got to ride some of the nation’s best horses in Group 1 races around the nation. Brent quit the saddle in 2000 and was quickly signed by New Zealand Bloodstock as the company’s Australian representative. He continues to fill that role from his Melbourne base. When you conduct an interview with a bloke like Brent Thoms...
Feb 27, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 463
I deserve a reprimand for taking so long to catch up with Jenny Duggan. There are several well known facts about this 44 year old Swedish born jockey. She can hold her own on the back of a thoroughbred at any level. She’s a hard worker, she’s as tough as teak and thoroughly reliable. She’s a great wife to Ben, and a wonderful mum and stepmother. What more can I say. Let’s hear from Jen who begins by talking about the support she receives from country and provincial trainers. She gives great cred...
Feb 20, 2024•50 min•Season 1Ep. 462
I first met Tony Lee when I had the honour to be guest commentator at the 1996 Wellington Cup meeting. In preparing to call a couple of races on the big programme, I received every possible courtesy from the NZ ace. Tony went out of his way to help me through a plethora of strange colours and horse names. I tuned in to hear his description of the recent Wellington Cup won by Mary Louise- his broadcasting swan song after four decades of wonderful service to NZ racing. I called Tony a few days aft...
Feb 13, 2024•58 min•Season 1Ep. 461
In order to find the right races for his horses, Ben Brisbourne makes full use of his ideal Wangaratta base to campaign in two states. He frequently has runners in rural Victoria but often appears in the NSW Riverina region. Great to catch up with a young horseman from a Shropshire racing family in the UK, who arrived in Melbourne unheralded and unsung a decade ago. He looks back on his reasons for trying the Aussie scene. Ben says he had a few contacts in Australia before making such a bold mov...
Feb 06, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 460
Nathan Doyle places his horses judiciously, and is rewarded with a consistent win rate. In this current season he’s sitting in tenth spot on the NSW premiership ladder. Here is a young man born and reared in the Hunter Valley who was destined for a future with horses. After several years in the employ of top trainers, Nathan kicked off at Newcastle in 2018. He begins by talking about his current number of horses. He says he tried to get started at Scone but couldn’t find enough boxes. The traine...
Jan 29, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 459
Shaun Guymer made the decision a few seasons back to follow in the footsteps of Sydney based jockeys like Grant Buckley and Jeff Penza who’ve enjoyed fruitful careers away from the metropolitan area. Like Penza and Buckley, Shaun sees more sense in having five or six rides on a southern districts track than pushing a 100/1 “pop”around in town. The popular jockey talks about his current workload and his acceptance of the endless travel required to meet “bush” commitments. He talks about the predi...
Jan 23, 2024•50 min•Season 1Ep. 458
The brilliant young Brisbane jockey is under suspension as this podcast is posted. He’s not happy about this one or the many that have preceded it in his short career so far. In the main his suspensions are the result of trying too hard to win. He’s a driven young man who harbours a desire to make his mark in the shortest possible time. Slowly but surely he’s realising the error of his ways. Kyle tells his story with total honesty and great sensitivity. He begins by outlining a new understanding...
Jan 15, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 457
Damien talks about the strategic benefits of training at Wyong. He talks of his many trips to faraway country meetings. He says improved bush prize money is a great incentive to take horses away. The trainer talks about his resolve to personally attend as many meetings as he can. Damien pays tribute to his father-in- law, former trainer Bob Law whose input is invaluable. He talks of Bob’s success with unsound horses in the 80’s and 90’s. He acknowledges the contribution to the training operation...
Jan 09, 2024•54 min•Season 1Ep. 456
We’ve had several emails from older racing fans requesting a podcast with former legendary jockey Ron Hutchinson. I’m sorry you missed the interview we posted three and a half years ago with the famous Australian jockey who also left an indelible mark in Europe. Like his compatriot Scobie Breasley, Ron reached great heights in the veteran years and won a Singapore premiership at age 53. In response to continued enquiries I’m thrilled to present once again our 2020 podcast with a great jockey and...
Jan 02, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 455
Great to catch up with Wayne Harris at a racing luncheon in early December. I was reminded of the fact that the former star jockey was one of our very early podcast guests in 2018. When I suggested an updated interview was called for, he said in typical Harris fashion, “are you sure people would want to hear my story again.” Who wouldn’t want to hear the story of the kid from Muswellbrook who burst onto the racing scene in the late 1970’s with riding performances well beyond his years. When doct...
Dec 26, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 454
Ryan Maloney was in high spirits when this interview was recorded on Thursday Dec 14th. He was looking forward to a big book of eight rides at Eagle Farm but fate saw him in a hospital bed in the early hours of Saturday morning. Anybody who has suffered a kidney stone episode will know that there are few more painful experiences. He’s over the trauma and keen to get back to work. Ryan reviews his fortuitous decision to leave Victoria. He talks about the upward spiral of Queensland racing, and th...
Dec 19, 2023•54 min•Season 1Ep. 453
Wayne Peake’s interest in racing began at age 8, when he walked onto Kembla Grange racecourse with his family. By early teens he was totally obsessed with the sport. He devoured newspaper and magazine articles and tuned in religiously to the limited radio and TV coverage of the day. He quickly settled on a favourite jockey, horse and race broadcaster. By the end of the 1970’s Wayne had nurtured the dream of one day bringing that decade back to life in book form. His dream materialised at the end...
Dec 12, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 452
Hugh Bowman wasn’t where I expected him to be when we finally pinned him down for this interview. When I spoke to him a few days earlier he was still in Hong Kong undergoing physiotherapy for the legacy of injuries sustained in a race fall on November 11th. A short time later he made a snap decision to visit his parents in Mudgee. He wasn’t long off the connecting flight to the central western town when he very kindly joined us on the podcast. This interview goes close to one and a quarter hours...
Dec 05, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 451
With a team rarely exceeding twenty five horses Sara Ryan is able to do things a little differently to the bigger stables. She goes to great lengths to give her horses something to think about other than the grind of training and racing. One beneficiary of her alternative routine is Attractable who propelled her to dizzy heights by winning the Big Dance. We talk to a young lady who first encountered thoroughbreds on the show jumping circuit, and became fascinated with the breed. Sara begins by t...
Nov 28, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 450
Many experienced owners speak highly of Newcastle’s Jason Deamer who resists the temptation to increase the size of his stable. In twenty years of training, the third generation horseman has rarely exceeded twelve horses. His winners and strike rate have remained constant for all of that time. We caught up with the former jockey recently to look back on his racing life. Jason begins by reviewing four consecutive recent wins by the very talented Hard To Say. He talks of his association with Dynam...
Nov 21, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 449
Some trainers enjoy the bustling environment of a city stable. Others wouldn’t leave their country bases for a Godolphin contract. One of the latter group is Todd Howlett who’s more than content training his forty horse team at Lower Belford. I enjoyed catching up with a horseman who 23 years ago began his racing involvement while working for the Singleton Council. Todd talks of his recent Coonabarabran Cup win with Scorched Land. He heaps praise on Scorched Land’s rider, talented apprentice Ann...
Nov 14, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 448
Popular Jess Taylor brought up a very distinguished milestone at the Sapphire Coast meeting on July 30th. She bounced straight to the lead on Kiss the Colours in a 1000m maiden for her great supporter Joe Cleary. The 3YO filly went on to win easily to give Jess her 500th win in twelve years of race riding. Since then she’s reeled off another twelve wins, including a double at the Sapphire Coast on Nov 2nd. Jess joined us on the podcast last week to talk about her notable achievement. She admits ...
Nov 07, 2023•47 min•Season 1Ep. 447
The Australian Turf Club moved swiftly to honour Betty Lane Holland following the passing of the trailblazing horse trainer on October 22nd at the remarkable age of 97. Just three days later they attached her distinguished name to a three year old race at the Kensington midweek meeting, and the script couldn’t have worked out better. The winner Sly Boots and third place getter Vanquished are both trained by the Waterhouse/Bott duo while Anabel Neasham prepares runner up Cheergal. It was a nervou...
Oct 31, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 446
Caught up with Brian Fletcher at the recent Beauford Club luncheon at Newcastle where he was a guest speaker. His tales of the turf and stories from the Panthers camp kept the crowd entertained. It occurred to me at the time that Brian would make an excellent podcast guest. He happily agreed and here it is! Brian begins by reflecting on an amazing third straight premiership win by his beloved Panthers. He says he’d just about given up before Nathan Cleary began to weave some magic. As CEO of the...
Oct 31, 2023•54 min•Season 1Ep. 445
Tyler Schiller was always destined to make it to the ranks of Sydney’s top jockeys. After a flying start in the Riverina he was fortunate to gain a start in Sydney with Mark Newnham who had emerged as a master tutor of young riders. Tyler was champion Sydney apprentice in his second season, and has already established himself in the senior ranks. He begins the podcast by heaping praise on the flying Front Page, the horse to give him two Kosciuszko wins in twelve months. Tyler shares a funny side...
Oct 24, 2023•46 min•Season 1Ep. 444
