Every now and again fate produces a result in the racing codes that inspires the little man to keep trying. Such a fairy tale moment occurred at Menangle on Saturday night when Silk Cloud totally outclassed a handy bunch of juvenile fillies in the Fran Fitzpatrick Cheryl McDowell Pink Bonnet. The race with the cute name was introduced in the 1970’s and is marked each year by the placement of a specially crafted piece of headwear over the ears of the winning filly. There are few harness horsemen who wouldn’t give their eye teeth to take one of those pink bonnets home.
For Bathurst horseman Tony Higgs this was a special moment in a lifetime dedicated to harness horses. From the moment he decided to train in his own right in the 1980’s, he’s been hoping the next horse to walk through his gate might be the one to change the course of his life. He’s had a couple of nice juveniles which we’ll highlight later, but Silk Cloud has put a spring in his step, that nobody has noticed before.
It was Silk Cloud's turn to wear the Pink Bonnet this year - courtesy Kate Butt Club Menangle.
The trainer had ticked a Shadow Play - Modern Babe filly in his catalogue when he arrived at the pre Covid Bathurst Gold Crown sale in 2020. “She was by an underrated stallion in Shadow Play from a mare by Modern Art, sire of champion Lochinver Art,” said Tony. “Her dam was a non winner but had placed three times from a handful of starts. She’d had only one previous foal, a Blissful Hall gelding called Ultra Bliss who won a couple of races but that was it. As a type her yearling really grabbed me. She was big and strong and had a very wilful attitude. I went to her stable a couple of times and she didn’t want any special attention. She was just all business.”
Tony was confident the unimpressive catalogue page would see her go for six or seven thousand dollars. His budget took a giant hit when he had to go to $13,000 for the only filly in that Gold Crown catalogue that he really wanted to take home. In the early stages of breaking in, Higgs realised her wilful attitude wasn’t confined to the sale ring.
“She was a cantankerous bugger who took a bit of work to get her around to our way of thinking,” he said. “She could buck a bit and was very wary of anything she didn’t recognize. She never did anything without the block eye winkers. I brought her back to the tie rail one day, and without thinking slipped her bridle off before unhooking the sulky. When she caught sight of the gig I thought she’d go straight over the tie rail. We got that cart off in record time. She’s still that way inclined, and that’s why she’s still wearing block eye winkers.”
Silk Cloud's focus was straight ahead as she charged home to win the Pink Bonnet - courtesy Kate Butt Club Menangle.
Tony named his filly after a good country galloping mare of the 1970’s, and began her education. He took her to the Bathurst trials six times before producing her in a two year old race. “I just let her find her way around in the trials learning as she went,” he said. “She got better and better with her fifty eight inch hopple, loose flowing headcheck and trademark block eye winkers.”
Silk Cloud was a pretty well educated filly by the time she made her debut at Bathurst as recently as February 10th. “She sat behind the leader Finery for most of the trip before pulling out at the top of the straight. She was rapidly overhauling Finery on the line to fail by a neck. Her trainer was well satisfied.”
Tony knew he was asking a lot of the Shadow Play filly to go to the Pink Bonnet second up. “It was a massive step up in class, first time on the Menangle speedway and first time away from home,” said the trainer. “I’ve only had a handful of drives at Menangle and felt it was in Silk Cloud’s best interests to look for one of the top drivers. I was thrilled when Luke McCarthy was available, and you saw the end result on Saturday night.”
Tony was relieved when the filly travelled reasonably well from Bathurst and settled in quickly despite the strange surroundings in the stabling area. His first tense moment came when Silk Cloud ran the gate hard and was close to the leaders in a frenetically run first quarter. “I couldn’t believe it when 25.9 seconds flashed onto the semaphore and we’d done a little bit of early work,” said Tony. “When she looked like getting trapped three pegs down the back, Luke had no option but to come out into the breeze and that’s when I really started to worry.
“After that crazy first quarter the leaders hit a brick wall leaving us in front a fair way from home. I was waiting for the swoopers, but to my delight she shot away and beat them easily. It was a massive thrill for me, my wife Leanne and our daughter Danielle. I couldn’t believe we’d won the Pink Bonnet.”
A happy group at the Pink Bonnet presentation. Extreme left Tony Higgs. Second from left is Tony's step-daughter Danielle Bateman - courtesy Kate Butt Club Menangle.
Tony’s association with the McCarthy family goes back a long way. He was eleven or twelve years of age in the mid 1970’s when he perfected a method by which he could “wag” school sports days and head straight for the Bathurst Showground. The track was used by dozens of trainers including Ray McCarthy, father of industry legend John McCarthy and grandfather to Luke, Todd and Andrew.
Young Tony befriended Ray McCarthy and wasn’t backward in bombarding the veteran horseman with questions about the standardbred horse and the fundamentals of training. “Ray had a quiet little mare called Dottie Hanover at the time and knew I was fond of her,” recalled Tony. “One day I was stunned when he invited me to take her out onto the track for a jogging session. He showed me how to mount the cart and hold the reins, and off I went full of confidence. Some time later Dottie Hanover won a race, and Ray pushed a twenty dollar note into my hand. I declined, but he made me take it as a present for helping to get the mare ready. You don’t forget things like that.”
Tony’s interest in standardbred horses was initially sparked by his father Mick Higgs who’s still going strong at 84 years of age. “Dad always had one or two around him, and I learned the basics from him at a very early age,” said Tony. “He was a good enough judge to buy a horse called Three Stooges for nine hundred dollars in the mid 1990’s. That horse went on to win a Gold Crown Final for trainer Ray Driscoll.”
Tony was in his early twenties when this one was taken at Harold Park in 1985 - courtesy Peter Collier Club Menangle.
The trotting sport enjoyed enormous popularity in the 1970’s - an era of legendary horses and horsemen. There was no more revered horse than the “Bathurst Bulldog” Hondo Grattan, and no more respected participant than his trainer/driver Tony Turnbull. On leaving school young Tony’s dream was realised when he landed a full time job with the Turnbull operation - a job that would last for a full decade.
“Remember this was Tony Turnbull’s heyday,” said Higgs. “He trained a team of sixty horses most of the time, and travelled enormous mileage. He raced all over the Central West through the week, and rarely missed a Friday night at Harold Park. He’d get home at 3am Saturday morning, work a few after breakfast and then race again at Cowra or Parkes on the Saturday night. He was an absolute marvel. I’ll never forget my years with this great man.”
Tony was a fair way down the pecking order when it came to race drives. Tony Turnbull never lost his enthusiasm for race driving, while sons Greg and Steve were rapidly emerging as talented reinsmen. “I only got the odd drive in the early years but finished up driving around 80 or 90 winners for the stable,” said Tony Higgs. “There was one wonderful night at Harold Park in the mid 1980’s when I landed a double on Hargi Tiara and Swift Hanna. Best horse I drove for the Turnbulls was a great old campaigner called Frosty Jim who won a huge number of races. I was lucky enough to drive him in a couple of those wins.”
Here's young Tony parading after a win on Swift Hanna at Harold Park in 1983 - courtesy Peter Collier Club Menangle.
It was inevitable that Tony Higgs would eventually go solo. He bit the bullet and became a public trainer in the mid 1980’s, starting out with six horses in the stable. “It was so hard to establish any sort of name for myself,” he recalls. “I had to supplement my income for a long time by taking on all sorts of outside jobs. I worked in orchards and market gardens, I drove trucks, I carted gyprock - you name it and I had a crack at it. There have been some very tough years.”
Two special horses helped to get the dedicated horseman through the lean times. Tony owned, trained and drove the super consistent filly Hannah McKenzie to win 16 races including a Sires Stakes Final at Harold Park in 2002. In the 1990’s he trained and drove a talented gelding called Rotherwood Anytime for the late Dr. Maurice Renshaw to win 18 races with an amazing 26 placings. “We’ve had winners on many different tracks, but they were the two bread and butter horses,” he said.
Tony is a regular at Bathurst meetings in his familiar red and green colours. Here he is with Count Montecarlo - a son of his former top filly, Hannah McKenzie - courtesy Bathurst Harness Racing Club.
At 57 Tony has cut back to just three horses, but retains his passion for the sport. It’s not hard to imagine how that passion is currently being regenerated by the emergence of a very special filly. “She’ll just have a quiet few weeks as we wait for the heats and final of the Bathurst Gold Tiara to roll around,’ he said. “Winning the Pink Bonnet on the famous Menangle track was one thing. To win the Gold Tiara at home would be something else again.”
I’m sure Tony will be more than happy if Luke McCarthy is available to continue his association with Silk Cloud through the Tiara series. By the same token he won’t be too disappointed if stable commitments prevent the premier reinsman from doing so. Tony Higgs is no slouch in the sulky himself. On the Bathurst track he grows a leg!
(Banner image - Luke McCarthy gained the drive on Silk Cloud because Tony felt he hadn't had enough experience on the premier track - courtesy Kate Butt Club Menangle.)