Jim Lee didn’t go to Kembla Grange on Saturday, opting to stay home and watch his four stable runners on Sky Racing. The popular Randwick horseman has been staying home a lot these last seven months.
He’s been dealing with a double family tragedy, the like of which no human being should have to endure. His life was turned upside down in 2017 when his daughter Renee died during a violent asthma attack. The thirty six year old left behind two young sons Harrison and Hudson, now ten and nine respectively.
Jim was barely back on his feet when fate dealt him another unthinkable blow. Just twelve months after Renee’s passing, his wife Joanne was diagnosed with brain cancer. She fought hard for almost a year before succumbing to the disease last October.
Jim and brother Greg Lee have been in a training partnership for twelve years, but Greg has been more than happy to assume the bulk of responsibility during his elder brother’s troubled times.
The stable’s first three runners at Kembla failed to get into the placings, but four year old gelding Notabadidea gave Jim reason to smile with a dominant win in a 2000m BM64. The free striding son of Highly Recommended relished a 3KG claim for Riverina apprentice Josh Richards and led throughout to beat a better than average field.
Image courtesy Bradley Photos - Notabadidea (Josh Richards) led all the way to win at Kembla on Saturday for the Lee brothers.
“We got Notabadidea from NZ a year ago through Greg’s friendship with Chris Faulkner who part owns the horse,” said Jim. “He’d had seven starts for a maiden win at Taupo before coming over. He didn’t show us much for a while, but started to improve as we stepped him up in distance.
He’s been very strong at 2000m his last three starts and was pretty impressive on Saturday. He should be competitive through the winter months.”
Jim and Greg Lee’s current partnership reflects the close association they’ve had since the late 1960’s when they both gained apprenticeships with respected Randwick trainer Cec Rolls.
“Greg and I were both very small and it was our father Jim Snr who encouraged us to become apprentice jockeys,” young Jim recalls. “We were very lucky to get in with Mr. Rolls at the same time. He was a very successful trainer who just a few years earlier had trained the brilliant Eskimo Prince to win the Golden Slipper and other top races.”
Image courtesy Bradley Photos - Here's one from left field! Jim receives the coveted Perkins Cup at the AJC Apprentices School 1975. David (left of picture) and Greg (white shirt) were also awarded saddles.
Jim Snr is still going strong at 89 years of age. “He had a fall from a ladder a few months ago which slowed him up a bit, but he’s coming good,” said his eldest son.
Cec Rolls didn’t train Jim’s first winner but he played a major role in getting his apprentice on the horse. The trainer had to drive to Canberra for the weekend to visit a relative and was aware the races were on there the following day. “I’d had only two race rides at this time and could barely sit on,” recalled Lee. “The boss told me I was going to Canberra with him. He said to throw my gear in the boot in case I picked up a ride on the Saturday.”
“We were actually passing the racecourse when we saw a bloke giving his horse a pick of grass on the side of the road. We stopped for a chat and quickly established that I was an apprentice jockey hoping to fluke a ride the following day. The boss told the bloke I was showing promise. In an era when you didn’t have to declare riders until the day before, the stranger told me I could ride his horse the following day.”
That trainer’s name was John Ellington. The horse was called Lunar Lupus who led all the way to give little Jimmy Lee an unexpected thrill. “The horse bounced straight to the lead and won easily with me hanging on for dear life,” said Lee. “Mr. Ellington was impressed with my quiet style of riding. I didn’t tell him I probably would have fallen off had I moved a muscle. I finished up winning more races on that horse later.”
It was Cec Rolls who produced his apprentice’s first city winner in 1971. The horse was called Stargazer, a name used again twenty years later by the owners of a Tommy Smith trained galloper who won 6 Group 2 races and $900,000 in prize money
Jim's first city winner was Stargazer for his master Cec Rolls at Canterbury in 1971.
Jimmy Lee’s Stargazer carried the colours made prominent by the multiple big race winner Martello Towers more than a decade earlier. That all important first metropolitan win proved to be the confidence booster the young jockey needed. Brother Greg was making inroads at the same time.
The Lee boys were in ever increasing demand and their claims were being utilised by several trainers including Tommy Smith. Cec Rolls allowed both boys to ride work for Smith when their duties to his stable were completed.
The master of Tulloch Lodge gave the brothers regular rides and the boys reciprocated by riding many winners between them.
“Greg won four or five straight for Mr. Smith on a grey horse called Royal Charger in the 70’s,” recalls Jim. “I actually won a race on the same horse one day.”
Jim sometimes reflects on some top flight horses he got to ride in that era.
He had race rides on triple Derby winner Silver Sharpe and other Group 1 winners like Royal Show and Waikiki. He had one ride on the brilliant Tina’s Joy for T.J.Smith finishing second in a sprint at Rosehill to a horse ridden by Athol Mulley. “I’d like that one over again,” he says. “Mr. Mulley taught me a lesson or two that day.”
The Lee Bros were deeply affected by the sudden passing of Cec Rolls in the early 1970’s. The trainer had taken them into his care at a sensitive time in their lives and set them on the road to success in their chosen field.
Just as fortune had favoured them at the beginning of their careers, they were equally blessed to be taken in by another Randwick legend in Les Bridge whose distinguished training career was well under way. “Mr. Bridge was a great mentor and gave both of us many wonderful opportunities,” recalls Jim.
A rare photo of the Lee brothers who all had mounts at this Randwick meeting in 1974.
As successful as he was, Jim will tell you his brother Greg was the superior rider. “He was more dedicated and handled the sweat box far better than me,” says Jim. “More importantly he was a better thinker through a race.”
With a weight limit of 48kgs in most handicap races of the era, young Jim’s enthusiasm slowly diminished. He quit the saddle at 24 years of age, with a training career uppermost in his mind. Greg was developing rapidly as a race rider when he sustained a nasty leg break in a trackwork accident - an injury requiring three operations. “He came back and rode for quite some time but sadly wasn’t the rider he’d been,” said Jim.
Third brother David followed his elders into the riding ranks, also joining the Les Bridge stable. He enjoyed a successful few years and got to ride a few nice horses including the Group 1 winner Wayne’s Bid. “Apart from his natural riding ability David was an outstanding judge,” says Jim. “If he thought something could win he was usually right.”
David’s son Jason followed his father and uncles into the riding ranks with notable success. He rode winners for several leading stables before an injury brought his career to a halt, but he’s still in keen demand as an equine dentist.
With the help of his great friend Rex Little, J.R. Lee horse trainer made a modest beginning with four boxes and four yards in Myrtle St Kensington.
He found an instant supporter in the legendary jockey Jack Thompson who was still riding in races at age 58.
“He seemed to take an interest in my progress as a trainer, and was always willing to ride work for me,” recalled Jim. “How lucky was I to have a man like Mr. Thompson as my mentor. I loved his company, his dry sense of humour and the knowledge he was happy to share with a green young trainer. He was a hell of a bloke.”
Not even his subsequent Group 1 wins have given Jim a bigger thrill than having Jack Thompson on board his very first winner Palimony at Gosford in March of 1982. The expatriate Kiwi mare ploughed through heavy going to win an Intermediate Hcp by three lengths.
“Thommo” continued for another three years after Palimony’s win. His race rides were infrequent but he was a regular at trackwork, enjoying nothing more than helping out a smaller stable. His last win was on the Albert Stapleford trained It’s Lunchtime at Wyong on 31/01/1985. Just six weeks later he finished well back on Blocky’s Son in a race at Kembla Grange, and quietly brought down the curtain on an astonishing career of 47 years. The “quiet man” of Sydney racing was 70 years old when he died in 1992.
Image courtesy Bradley Photos - Les Bridge and Jack Thompson at a Wyong meeting in 1972. Thommo helped launch Jim's training career.
Palimony launched a training career which has brought Jimmy Lee great satisfaction, with notable success at the top level. More reliable than any horse he’s ever trained was Les Walters, an owner of intense loyalty who took a chance on the young trainer.
“Mr. Walters came to me with a reputation for changing trainers at the drop of a hat,” said Jim. “I must have done something right. He was still with me twenty years later.”
Maybe Jim’s achievements with the durable Hayai helped to consolidate his long association with the veteran owner. The trainer’s patience with the son of Skyhawk II enabled the horse to race sixty three times for ten wins, eleven seconds and two thirds for total prize money of $822,000.
Image courtesy Steve Hart Photographics - A happy trio after the 1984 Metrop. From left, Ron Quinton, owner Les Walters, and Jim Lee.
Hayai, whose racing career didn’t begin until he was a spring three year old, went on to win the AJC Metropolitan on two occasions, the first of them at Warwick Farm in 1983. His finest moment came twelve days later when he struck a quagmire track in the Caulfield Cup. With Neville Voigt up Hayai revelled in the ground to win the famous race by a widening 3.5 lengths. The following Autumn he added the Group 1 Tancred Stakes to his CV.
Image courtesy Steve Hart Photographics - Nothing like a winner to put a smile on a trainer's face.
Jim never got to train another Hayai, but he’s won many races with other talented horses like Tierra Rist, Paulandic, Fouardee, Keepin’ The Dream, Ken’s Fortune, Our Year, Zara Dancer, Mr. Victory, Seattle Gem, Zipella, My Diamond Rouge, Our Magic Man and Keepit To Yourself.
Jim and his youngest daughter Candice have a way to go yet as they slowly pick up the pieces. Day by day the 66 year old trainer is spending more time with his ten horse team, under the watchful eye of a devoted brother.
He’s slowly becoming a subscriber to the ancient adage “there’s something about the outside of a horse that’s good for the inside of a man.”
(Banner image courtesy Steve Hart Photographics - Hayai (Ron Quinton) gets the better of Our Compromise (Glen Killen) to win his second AJC Metropolitan 1984)