
JOHN TAPP RACING
JOHN TAPP RACING
Thanks for checking in on Tappy’s Racing Yarns.
Improving mare Modella was super impressive in scoring a soft win at Rosehill Gardens. The four year old made the most of her best barrier draw in a long time and looked the winner on the hometurn. She also got the ball rolling for Zac Lloyd who rode four winners on the day.
Spoke to co-trainer Lee Curtis on Sunday about a mare he liked from the moment he spotted her at a Gold Coast sale in 2023. Lee says he was able to put together a syndicate which included vendors the Arrowfield Group. He now hopes for an offer to run in The Invitation on October 25th.
When Clare Lindop was making her way in the Australian female riding ranks, opportunities were still very thin on the ground. Only raw talent and an unfailing work ethic enabled her to gradually make inroads.
When Clare quit the saddle in 2018, she looked back on 1432 career wins including 4 Gr 1’s and 50 other stakes races. She joins us on the podcast to look back on her stellar career and to share some great stories about the horses and trainers who helped her along the way.
Tappy
(Banner image courtesy Steve Hart Photographics.)
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JOHN TAPP RACING PODCAST
Although there wasn’t a trace of racing in Clare Lindop’s family background, the little girl from Warrnambool was hellbent on becoming a jockey from age 10.
Young trainer Cameron Crockett completely dominated the recent Dubbo Cup programme with three wins and one dead heat on the ten race programme
“I’ll just wake up one day and say to myself that’ll do me,” was the reply given by Greg Ryan when quizzed about a likely retirement date on a podcast posted on October 27th 2020.
TAPPY'S TURF TOPICS
Very few race meetings go by when at least one win on the programme isn’t a direct result of an improved barrier draw. Saturday’s Midway win by Modella is a perfect example.
The Michael Freedman/ Tommy Berry partnership has been a major talking point in the early weeks of the Sydney spring carnival.
John Sargent was surprised two years ago when stable client Michael Stokes called to say he’d purchased a two year old filly on New Zealand Bloodstock’s Gavelhouse.com online sale for the princely sum of $3200.
With only ten or twelve horses in work these days, veteran trainer Clarry Conners doesn’t expect to have a glut of city runners.
“I try to keep strike rates out of my mind,” said in form trainer Rod Northam. “Trainers who worry about strike rates tend to barrier trial horses more often, waiting for the right races to come along.
“If I could find a way to bottle the feeling I got on Saturday, I’d be marketing it all over the world,” said Todd Smart after So Magnificent’s win in the TAB Highway.
Voltaire, the eighteenth century French writer and philosopher is credited with the well known quote “I disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it”.
Brad Widdup knew it wasn’t ideal to back Savvy Hallie up in the Silver Shadow Stakes just nine days after her Super Maiden win at Newcastle, but made the decision to do so on three counts.
Steve O’Halloran’s Irish accent was more lilting than ever as he responded to our phone call on Sunday morning.
The Newcastle Jockey Club received an unexpected boost to TAB turnover when Saturday’s Randwick meeting was called off.
TAPPY'S TROTS TOPICS
There was one heart stopping incident in the mid seventies which could have halted Dean Chapple’s love affair with harness racing before it got off the ground.
There’s nothing I’ve enjoyed more over the years than the many conversations I’ve had with veteran horsemen - especially harness horsemen who were around in the days when the sport was drawing big crowds all around Australia.
You’ll be hard pressed to find a horseman who isn’t enamoured of the sight of a talented trotter in full flight. Power Productions have kindly allowed me access to a video production highlighting the poetry of the trotting horse and the devotion of those who train them.
Wayne Dimech was in his mid-teens when Hondo Grattan was dominating the harness racing headlines in the early 1970’s. He had obviously inherited the harness racing genes from his Maltese forebears.
Ian Verning doesn’t mind his life long nickname of “Spud” although he is frustrated by the fact that he has no idea of its origins.
Australian harness racing currently boasts a plethora of talented drivers in the 20-25 age bracket. Those who appear regularly on metropolitan tracks enjoy the bulk of available media attention.
Trainers lucky enough to have a runner at a major trots meeting are conscious of the atmosphere only big time racing can generate. Miracle Mile night is something else again.
There’s no better pointer for punters than a Darren Hancock trained horse turning up at Penrith. The leading horseman has been an unabashed fan of the 1400m Menangle circuit since its inception in 2008
The 2022 Penrith racing year concluded on December 29th with what looked to be a run of the mill programme on paper. It took a rare training double by father and daughter duo David and Katie McGill, to inject a little “buzz” into the night.
Sean Grayling is emerging as a pretty serious race driver, and he appears to have a good handle on the art of training a harness horse.