I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve queried the whereabouts of Michael Clarke over the last decade. Michael retired in 2002, but actually rode the last 6 or 7 years of his career overseas.
It takes a brave and passionate man to venture into the field of professional horse training in Sydney. The big stables totally dominate the scene - the smaller ones have to battle for the leftovers.
Perth’s Darren McAullay is the best promoter Western Australian racing has ever had. His distinctive style and his unbridled passion for the sport has endeared him to racing audiences all over Australia.
In keeping with our policy of introducing country trainers on the podcast, it’s a delight to chat with Ross Stitt who’s been churning out the winners from his Taree stable for more than four decades.
In part 2 Tony talks of his heyday at Mornington, when he was training a team of 100 horses. He reflects on the wonderful horses who’ve shaped his career, and the great jockeys with whom he’s had a winning association.
Sydney harness racing fans are familiar with Todd McCarthy’s meteoric rise in a few short years. He talks about his early days, the influence of his family, and the horses who’ve shaped his career. He pays special tribute to the amazing Tiger Tara.
In part two of the podcast Michael Cahill remembers Falvelon as the fastest horse he ever rode. He talks of his time in Hong Kong and Macau. The latter contract took him to a jockeys title, and a Derby win.
It’s great to catch up with a jockey who’s been the ultimate professional for four decades. Michael Cahill was born into a great racing family at Cowra (NSW).
Kristen Buchanan lived in WA as a youngster and attained Uni Degrees in Biology and Exercise Physiology. Those qualifications would have given her any number of job choices, but training racehorses was all she wanted to do.
When the website began in May of last year, Rodney Quinn was one of my very early podcast guests. He’d been retired for five years and was well entrenched in his new role as tutor of apprentices with Racing NSW.
I’ve known few more passionate racing men than Louis Mihalyka, who founded Laurel Oak Thoroughbreds 32 years ago. Like most syndicators he would buy yearlings and then advertise heavily in the search for new owners.
Jodi Quinlan was pretty sore and sorry when we recorded this podcast, but you’d never pick it. Only a week earlier she had a confrontation with an ill-tempered maiden trotter in the Melton float parking area, and came off second best.
