Brilliant apprentice Mollie Fitzgerald was shattered recently when a sudden bout of appendicitis interrupted her march towards a possible NSW jockey’s premiership win in just her second season of race riding. The twenty two year old daughter of former successful jockey Malcolm Fitzgerald, had ridden 123 winners in just twenty one months leading up …

For many decades the NSW Riverina has produced an endless list of outstanding trainers and jockeys. One of the latest recruits to hit the headlines on the big stage is young jockey Tyler Schiller who reeled off a couple of Gr 1 wins during the recent Championships. One man to leave his mark as a jockey and trainer is Dave Heywood who retired in 202…

When Michael Beattie became Deputy Chairman of Stewards for the Hunter And North Western Racing Association in 1985 he wasn’t made welcome by all of his new colleagues. In fact one senior member of staff was clearly unhappy about the appointment of the bloke he called “the brash young steward from Grafton”. Beattie’s lifelong tendency to call a spa…

Racing has seen few more distinguished careers than the one enjoyed by Ron Quinton over six rewarding decades. His stellar riding career spanned almost thirty years. His successful training career is now in its thirty second year and counting. Ron’s an inductee of the Australian Racing Hall Of Fame and the recipient of a Medal Of The Order Of Austr…

There’s no busier jockey in northern NSW than Wauchope based Luke Rolls. The expat Kiwi drives huge mileage to honour commitments at northern rivers and tablelands tracks. Born and reared in Fielding on New Zealand’s North Island, Luke was initially apprenticed to Bruce Marsh at Foxton. He transferred to a Victorian stable in the early 2000’s and h…

We’re approaching the fifth anniversary of one of the most unique race days ever seen in Sydney. Drastic covid protocols saw only jockeys, trainers and a handful of stable staff in attendance to watch the running of the Derby, Doncaster, T.J Smith and Sires Produce Stakes on day 1 of The Championships.. The day belonged to that pizza eating, beer s…

The famous Hoysted racing dynasty had its origins in Victoria early in the twentieth century and has produced generations of successful horse trainers. The most celebrated was Fred Hoysted who won 17 Melbourne premierships from his Mentone base. Like most of his predecessors 33 year old Matthew Hoysted began his journey in Wangaratta, before workin…

When Rod Quinn won on Merlin Mustang at Rosehill in 2013 he had no idea it was fated to be his last ride in a race. When he and wife Alannah departed on a European holiday, Rod fully intended to resume riding on returning to Australia. Why that didn’t happen is a story in itself. Rod takes us through a stellar career that began at Nyngan in the far…

We’ve had a number of syndication company founders on the podcast over recent years, all sharing stories about their childhood passion for racing. James Moss is no different. His interest in the sport was ignited by trips to the track with his father and grandfather. Further motivated by the deeds of champion mare Sunline, James was completely “hoo…

Zac Lloyd’s day of days at Rosehill on February 22nd was soured by a five meeting suspension incurred on the third of his five winners on the programme. This remarkable quintet came just nine months after his previous best, a four win haul at Randwick. The Zac Lloyd story is well documented. He’s the son of former champion jockey Jeff Lloyd who tod…

Allan Kehoe has had some handy horses through his hands in twelve years as a professional trainer, but until recently a horse with that elusive X factor had never walked into his Wyong stables. Fate played a hand just over a year ago when a colt he was chasing at the Inglis Classic Sale was suddenly withdrawn by the vendor. That vendor knew of Alla…

We’ve had several emails lately enquiring about Jim Byrne’s future plans. He was missing in action for the latter half of 2024 and has been relatively quiet since returning to the saddle. We haven’t had Jim on the podcast for close to five years. The time is right to catch up with one of Queensland’s best ever jockeys. Jim begins by talking about M…

Angela Jones has ridden another two winners since our podcast was recorded on Friday Feb 7th. She won the last at Doomben on Master Showman for Stuart Kendrick and scored on Wanganeen for Tony Gollan at Caloundra on Sunday. That makes it 65 in the state and 38 in town for the current season. Angela’s backstory makes for an interesting podcast. She …

At the time this podcast was recorded on Thursday January 30th, Jamie Mott had ridden 71 Victorian winners for the current season, with only Blake Shinn ahead of him on the premiership ladder. A few hours later he booted home two winners at the Pakenham twilight meeting taking him to 73. On Friday evening he was at the Moonee Valley night meeting w…

The legendary jockey’s sudden retirement announcement in December caught the NZ racing industry by surprise. Opie says he’d been contemplating retirement for six months but it took a simple experience on Xmas Day to convince him the time was right. The champion jockey was out jogging on Xmas morning, wearing his mandatory heavy sweat gear when he w…

Received a couple of emails lately requesting information on two former elite racehorses. My correspondents are two younger racing enthusiasts curious about the deeds of Battle Heights and Manikato- the former a dour New Zealand stayer, the latter a dynamic Australian sprinter of the late 70’s and early 80’s. By coincidence both horses were ridden …

Following in the footsteps of jockeys like Jeff Lloyd, Robbie Fradd and Larry Cassidy, Vlad Duric has chosen Brisbane as home base for the latter years of his riding career. Vlad arrived in Queensland early last year after a wonderfully successful six years in Singapore where he won four local jockey’s premierships and a host of feature races. A Do…

When Luke Nolen’s in full swing it’s difficult to get him to sit still long enough to conduct an interview. Currently he’s on the sidelines indefinitely following a freakish fall at Geelong early in December. Although frustrated and in some discomfort, the champion jockey gave us all the time we needed to get a podcast “in the can”. What a career i…

There was one common thread among the hundreds of tributes paid to Ross Stitt after his recent retirement. Unequivocally, friends and fellow horsemen agreed that the 83 year old had been an ornament to his profession as a man and a professional horse trainer. I’d like to add my sentiments by plucking from the archives an interview we recorded with …

It came as a surprise recently to learn that I hadn’t interviewed Scott Seamer since 2003 when he flew from Ballina to be a guest on Sky’s Inside Racing programme. At the time of the interview the former northern rivers jockey had posted an amazing 15 Gr wins in two years following on from a Queensland Oaks victory on Ethereal in 2001. A few months…

I’d lost count of the number of country racing fans who’d requested a podcast with retired jockey Graham Power. Whenever the subject of top Riverina jockeys had come up over the years, Graham’s name was always on the list. A phone call to check his availability and some quick research followed, and we were good to go. Great to present a podcast wit…

We catch up with Wagga based trainer Gary Colvin who added to his metropolitan record when Cambar scored a tradesmanlike win in the TAB Highway on Nov. 30th. Gary’s hoping Cambar will emulate the deeds of stable favourite Another One who won a Championship Final in 2022 after having finished second the year before. Gary begins our podcast by talkin…

Good to catch up with a young jockey who’s forged a prominent spot among the powerful Sydney riding ranks in recent years. The Waterhouse/Bott duo supply regular rides to Adam Hyeronimus in recognition of his unrelenting work ethic. He currently has 4 Gr 1 winners on his CV along with numerous stakes wins. We were able to pin Adam down last week fo…

We’ve had several requests for a podcast with former jockey and popular Sky Thoroughbred Central presenter Bernadette Cooper. The enquirers were unaware Bernie had already been one of our podcast guests, as far back as April of 2019. Another email in the past week has settled the issue. We’re going to pluck the five and a half year old podcast from…

Given the choice Peter Morgan would rather be spending time with his horses than standing around with a mobile phone. He very kindly made an exception for us last week, and we’ve been able to capture some of his recollections of a life with horses. Peter talks firstly about his talented galloper Burrandana whose first up win at Gundagai recently pr…

We had our podcast interview with Keith Ballard safely “in the can” before he reported for duty at Saturday’s Julia Creek Cup fixture at Mount Isa. It’s now history that the legendary jockey went out a winner on the final ride of his 55 year career. Keith was winless in the first four races, but turned it around in the last when he went straight to…

It was mid October when I invited Ray Hadley to be special guest on the occasion of our 500th podcast episode. Never once during the conversation did the legendary broadcaster so much as hint that he was contemplating calling time on his 2GB morning programme. We made arrangements to record the interview on the afternoon of Thursday November 5th. L…

The story of the Freedman era is one of racing’s all time best - four enthusiastic young brothers who made an amazing journey from the family stud farm at Yass to the establishment of a Victorian based training powerhouse. Lee held sway as trainer with Anthony, Richard and Michael handling crucial roles in the background. Together they had an enorm…

A hat trick of recent country wins by improving gelding My Last Hooray rekindled memories of Frank Cleary’s glory days in Australian racing. The popular trainer wound down his training operation following two health scares in 2020, and has been training only a handful of horses in recent times. He even hinted that he may walk away from a business t…

With the Sydney jockey’s room virtually a closed shop, other talented riders are obliged to carve themselves a niche in one of several strong NSW regional centres. With no shortage of race meetings, these jockeys are able to pursue a healthy livelihood, sneaking to town from time to time when an opportunity arises. One such jockey is Billy Owen who…

I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Lacey Morrison but I’ve been long aware of her notable achievements. This resilient 40 year old has had a diversified career in the racing industry as a jockey, a trainer and a two year stint as a member of the Darling Downs steward’s panel. Lacey’s comeback from injury in 2021 has far exceeded her expectations…

I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Darren Beadman many times but not so much in recent years. Spotted him at Graham McNeice’s recent funeral service, and it occurred to me that “Shadow” would have insisted I feature the former star jockey on this podcast. Darren’s a busy boy these days in his role as Race Day Operations Manager for Godolphin, wi…

If pedigree has any bearing there was always a strong likelihood James Orman would become a jockey. His father Michael showed some talent in a very brief career before increasing weight terminated his aspirations. His mother Caroline Allardyce has been a trainer for forty years, and increased her team numbers when James became her stable apprentice…

I first met Josh Fleming when he visited the Sky Studios with family members in 2000. He was just 15 at the time, but already a professional race caller in Queensland. He’d debuted at Longreach a year earlier and had subsequently called the action at several far flung tracks. He was too young to take part in Sky’s first “young race caller scholarsh…

Aaron Bullock has emerged in the last five years as one of Australia’s most consistent jockeys. In the 2022/2023 season his astounding strike rate saw him win the national jockey’s title with 207.5 winners. He’s due to return to the saddle at the end of the month following a two month injury layoff. While he had a little spare time on his hands the…

Many racing people were predicting a bright future for Dylan Gibbons long before he made his debut at Taree in July 2020. Son of successful jockey Andrew Gibbons, the lanky youngster had been taken along quietly by his master Kris Lees and was the complete package by the time he was let loose. Dylan hasn’t let his supporters down. In just four seas…

Steve Hart was just 23 years old when he joined the ranks of Sydney’s race photographers in 1983. It didn’t take him long to showcase the flair, the creativity and the energy needed to chase the right shots through a long day at the races. Most importantly he made a million friends along the way. We got Steve to sit still long enough to record a sp…

As a regular watcher of racing from all parts of Australia I’ve heard Tony Wode calling the Townsville meetings many times. I’ve been a fan since I first heard his clear, concise race calls. At last we get around to profiling the career of a man who recently called his 40th Townsville Cup. How he got to where he is today makes for a great story and…

After just 14 years of race riding Don Terry was clearly established as one of the best country based jockeys in Australia. He was approaching 700 winners when involved in a life changing race fall at Grafton. After six months in Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital he settled on the NSW north coast, and began the long road back. His achievements…

Kevin Sweeney was one of those ever reliable jockeys who did his job with total dedication for an amazing 46 years. Had it not been for a high spirited horse dumping him at a Nowra meeting in 2015, he may well have pushed on for a bit longer. Kev spent the bulk of his career at Canberra and on southern districts tracks, where he forged strong assoc…

It’s just over three years since Molly Bourke won her first race on Mouse Almighty at Wagga. Another 131 wins have followed, complimented by an SDRA Apprentices Premiership. Molly’s talents were clearly evident when she skilfully nursed $58.00 “pop” Secret Plan over the line at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday. She’s now with John Sargent at Randwick a…

Pioneers like Pam O’Neill have taken great pride in watching the enormous progress made by female jockeys in recent years. Wendy Peel is Dubbo based these days but has had several addresses during her first seven years of race riding. The 31 year old is unwaveringly passionate about her chosen career path and travels huge mileage to honour commitme…

Welcome to Persuasion Class: the podcast where we'll dive into the evolution of persuasion in the early days of the English language. We’ll unearth the practical tools of persuasion, arming you to fight towards your own goals. Coming soon to all your favourite podcast platforms. For more information, visit https://www.persuasionclass.com or follow …

It was Coffs Harbour based jockey Jon Grisedale who alerted me to the fact that Trevor Hardy was getting close to retirement. The veteran horseman will call time on his 50 year career when his only horse, seven year old gelding Aheadofhistime loses his zest for racing. For twenty years Trevor combined horse training with the running of his small tr…

Whenever Ken Callaughan brought a horse to town from his country base, bookies were wary and punters had a very good look at the animal’s credentials. Ken’s success rate on metropolitan tracks was consistent over many years. We gave him a call recently and the veteran horseman accepted our invitation to join us on the podcast. Ken talks about the h…

Joe Bowditch has been a familiar face on major Australian racetracks for more than 34 years. He’s still plying his trade from a Victorian base at 47 years of age, and still riding winners. The evergreen jockey has crammed a lot into more than three decades of race riding in four states. The Joe Bowditch story makes for an interesting podcast. Curre…

Great to catch up with respected Dubbo trainer Peter Nestor who’s back in town training a small team of horses after a four year break from racing. A member of a legendary western districts racing family, Peter takes us back to his early days in the unique township of Gulargambone, and the family’s move to Dubbo. He talks of the serious heart ailme…

Michael Charge’s passion for racing was evident to viewers the first time he appeared on Sky Thoroughbred Central. He successfully combines that passion with an in depth knowledge of north Queensland form to help punters identify winners on many tracks in the region. Caught up with the man recently to find out how it all started. Michael remembers …

In the late 1990’s Jarrod Austin walked away from racing to investigate what other career options were available in the world. He tried the hotel industry and dabbled in the building trade, but soon realised there was one key component missing. He’d been around horses all his life, and found he simply couldn’t break the bond. The story of his path …

Brian York hasn’t wasted a single minute from the day he became aware that his riding days were over. He tried everything known to medical science to overcome a knee injury sustained in a freakish fall at Rosehill in November 2002, but to no avail.The former star jockey joins us on the podcast this week to talk about his very busy and rewarding lif…