From "Barefoot in the Bush" to the "City" 2
Many a dry gully and ups and downs, worked in the NT near Arnhem Land in the escarpment country and was Secretary of the Boorooloola Race & Rodeo Club for three years, rode in a couple of the early races for women and ended up training racehorses, the second licenced women trainer in Australia, I understand. Women were not given the privaleges they enjoy these days in the official world......
Many stories tragic and humourous along the way and may get to some of them but am a little sick of the me me story at the present.
I always rode my own trackwork and gallops and was fortunate to have good horses winning in the city and the bush...unfortunatly suffered an accident and destroyed my knee. Thus I lost heart as could no longer ride the gallops which was to me an integral portion of my enjoyment of training these superb animals, poetry in motion.
I loved coming around the top turn on the training tracks with a handful of horse the wind whistling around my head, the emerald green turf, the thunder of the hooves in my ears, adrelin coursing through my and the horse's veins, easing off the brakes and coming to the line with still a gear to go.
I was fortunate that rode trackwork on some magnificent horses for other trainers. 
I will never forget the first day I had a runner in the city.....did not win but ran a respectable race
......it is all in the journey not the end.
This horse I bred in partnership....he would dink along behind the field and then a whirlwind finish...he was a heartstopper, New Zealand staying bloodlines and won heaps of country cups with him and convinced the other partner to take him to the city where he won first up and was a big big betting coup, not my money was never a punter, and he went from strength to strength and was an open handicap horse in Brisbane....His dam, Sail on Sally, cost $350.00 in foal and Sovereign Sails was the resultant foal.
Photographs....Alan Peach & Three-Way Photography
Not forgetting.......Happy Holidays and Best Wishes Rudy if you are still dropping by occassionally...when I go to the racehorses I think of you....I am not mentioning the other rollercoaster...
posted by Lizzie's Insomnia at
5:34 PM
4 Comments:
My! What an interesting life you have had and a famous one too. A race horse trainer, how clever is that! It must have been a very exciting time for you.
Elizabeth you have the most extraordinary life! I am catching up on your posts after dreadful modem drop outs (bloody T*lstra!)
I can feel that wind whipping through my hair as I read your story. I have no knee injury to stop me from galloping again, just all the life obstacles at the moment.
It's that heart-in-your-mouth feeling that I miss - when you're not sure if this ride is going to end in pain or not. That's half the exhilartion I reckon!
I remember many a night spent at the Trots in Sydney. I would hang over that railing, just enthralled by the Pacers warming up. Then seeing them race, nostrils flaring red, dirt thrown up from flying hooves, silks flashing past -all so exciting for a young girl infatuatied by all things equine.
You are so lucky to have such memories -congratulations on all you've achieved, and are yet to achieve.
I have waxed lyrical about the up side but does have a seamy aspect. I loved the training of these beautiful willing creatures but was/am too abrupt with the clientele.....do not have the PR skills and became worse as got older. If Australian racing followed the Irish and French would have been ok as they accommodate "tacturn" but racing as gone more to the "business" end of town. Magic Millions here in Queensland owned by John Singleton and co......publicity surrounding so called sale toppers I think is a laugh. The bush racing traditionally the grass roots of racing strangled by an appointment, by the then Racing Minister, Merry Rose subsequently jailed for blackmail, of a racing administrator whose policies are for the short term, ....and beg pardon was not some bottom of the harbour money laundering schemes involved here somewhere with some Hand Bank???.
When I enjoyed city racing Ray Murrihy was chief steward and he was an honorable man no quarter given to anyone no matter who you were as it should be and the stewards trained by him in later years forced out by self serving interests..
Ended up with a mental breakdown, as I posted and took down, too many deaths involved within the industry, suicide and terminal race falls, and could and do not agree with some accepted racehorse training methods, in the end could not take the the bush out of me so guess that could be considered a failure, not to me though a life learning curve.....I educated and worked for other trainers which I did enjoy until an accident with my knee, and not from the back of a horse either although the knee would have been weakened by twenty five years of jumping race horses out of steel barriers. ouch ouch....a spoilt kids pony ran over the top of me when I was teaching it to lunge for the owners....only reached up to my waist but I guess was the way I fell...
Ye...ah.... I learnt to use the computer and retrained in the nursing industry which I enjoy and still have competition horses...raise a few yearlings for clients and have the satisfaction of seeing them win in the cities...a fortunate life
nice post. thanks.
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