Image courtesy Bradley Photographers - Paul Sutherland .
How many racing fans will recognize this 1960’s photo of a young horseman destined to become a leading Sydney trainer?
Mark Bradley of Bradley Photos uncovered this snap of a very young Paul Sutherland, during his fleeting career as an apprentice jockey.
Paul began his training career at Nowra, but it wasn’t long before he was winning races on the metropolitan tracks. A horse called Trafalgar Square was one of his early city winners.
By the early 80’s Paul was based at Rosehill and quickly joined the ranks of Sydney’s top trainers.
In the 1986/87 he won eighty eight and a half races to finish second to Brian Mayfield-Smith on the trainer’s premiership, with T.J. Smith in third spot.
Paul trained Red Anchor early in the great colt’s career and was sorry to lose him to Smith. Other talented horses to be trained by Sutherland were Sound Horizon, Royal Troubador, Wong, All Chant, Tuna Too, Yir Tiz, Mother Duck and Tross.
He always rated Tross as potentially the best he trained. The unsound son of Moss Trooper won five races from just eight starts, most of them by big margins.
Paul Sutherland passed away two and a half years ago at age 71, following a short illness. He left his mark in an era when Rosehill was Sydney’s busiest training centre.