20 minute read
SECRET PASSIONS
The secret lives of us, we take a look at the hidden passions of racing people. Just what do busy horse people do with their precious free time? Let’s find out!
MICK PRICE Trainer / Speed Demon
As he approaches 300km on the world class Phillip Island circuit, aboard the “absolute weapon” that is a 1000cc motorcycle, Mick Price is not, he laughs “thinking about horses!”
Whilst working long hours overseeing a Caulfield stable of 75 horses (and 40 staff) with another 25 at Warrnambool and others out spelling, Mick is adamant that he never wants to be the sort of “24/7 obsessed trainer” who eventually burns out.
“You have to get to the stables fresh every morning,” he said, “and be aware of the fatigue and repetition.” If such things get on top of you, he added “you just end up not doing a good job.”
An outlet is required, and Mick’s is a different sort of velocity to thoroughbred speed... the bike, whether it be one of the five motorcycles he has owned or the pushbike aboard which he hits town on three times a week.
His interest sparked by following the career of Valentino Rossi, Mick has on many occasions made the most of the Phillip Island Ride Days, along with fellow trainers Ciaron Maher and Nathan Dunn - plus a couple of retired jumps jockeys - hitting the circuit at speed, enjoying the adrenaline rush.
He has also been happy on a trail around Belgrave’s hills, something he says “has not been good for the licence points.”
Covid has of course slowed things down, as has Mick’s own caution.
“I am not afraid of injury but I just don’t have the time to be sidelined,” he said, to date lucky to have walked soundly away from a few tumbles. But he still has his bike and three times a week can be seen on his other less powered cycle riding from Docklands to the Chandler Highway.
Sometimes it is a social thing, owner Rupert Legh or jockey Hugh Bowman amongst those joining him, but what he enjoys most is the fast solo rides. Apart from the exercise - “it is great cardio without concussion” - it is “that small opportunity to have a couple of hours by myself.”
“In racing you are always surrounded by people,” he said. He loves it of course, but he loves the time-out as well.
And a thrilling time-out it is too, Mick keen on keeping healthy and fit whilst having “a good life balance.”
He still finds the everyday demands of being a racehorse trainer exciting; “you spend your life being challenged,” he said, “it is a constant puzzle.” And he enjoys it all the more for having other things to focus on; his bikes, a dabble into real estate and sponsorship of Australian Superbike Champion Wayne Maxwell.
KYLIE ADAIR Bloodstock Consultant/Another Speed Demon
KYLIE ADAIR
A much valued member of the Magic Millions team for coming up to 13 years, the Irish born Kylie Adair loves her role as Bloodstock Consultant, keeping busy throughout the year with yearling selection and catalogue production and on sales day the work associated with veterinary procedures; scoping, x-rays, etc.
She arrives at work each morning full of energy and ready to go, despite the fact - or because of it, she says - that she has been up for hours longer than most others kicking off their 9am work day.
For several years it was track work riding, the reason she came to Australia in the first place. Having undertaken equine studies at university, she has “always ridden and worked in racing stables.”
Also interested in health and well-being, Kylie nine years ago decided she would make a concerted effort to get fit, at first doing a bit of running with the aim of competing in triathlons. But she soon realised that she “really liked the cycling part of it the most.”
Cycling between 400 and 500km a week, Kylie has probably seen more of the Gold Coast than most born there. She loves the beaches and the hinterland, getting up into the mountains at least once or twice a week.
She has also travelled with her bike (actually make that bikes - “I have a large collection!”), her passion taking her on cycling tours through Italy and France, the best way to travel she says - “you see the best of everything from a bike.”
She has raced locally and overseas including a visit to the spectacular Mariana Islands. Last year she made the most of what is usually Magic Millions’ quietest month (July) with a trip to the Tour de France, riding part of the course before joining 1000s of others as a spectator.
“It was amazing, such a great atmosphere - people singing and dancing, I am so glad I took the opportunity to go.”
So what is it about cycling that gives Kylie so much pleasure? Well it is similar to track work riding, the invigoration that comes with morning exercise and the speed.
“It brings out the inner child in me,” she laughed, “we are all just big kids going out on bikes with our friends seeing who can go the fastest!”
CHRIS SYMONS Jockey / Dr Doolittle
CHRIS SYMONS
It was not far shy of his 16th birthday, as an apprentice jockey, that Chris Symons first sat on a horse. Up until then he’d had little exposure - beyond an occasional family trip to the races - to horses. But his dad (proprietor of a Baker’s Delight) and his uncles enjoyed the sport and upon noticing his love of animals started to say “hey, perhaps you could be a jockey.”
“And when I learned that being an apprentice meant that I could leave school early I was all for it!” he joked.
Admitting that he was by no means a natural, Chris worked hard at his new trade. “It did not come easily to me, I was not one of those ‘born to ride’ types.”
But that hard work paid off and over 1000 winners later, Chris has earned the respect of trainers and owners not just for his skills but for his work ethic; also working hard as consultant on the “Ride Like A Girl” movie and as a racing commentator for Channel 7.
As if all that doesn’t take up plenty of time Chris, along with his wife Sam, have built up from scratch a property on the Mornington Peninsula, first building a barn and then eventually a home with the view of keeping a few pets, a few horses.
Always taking a special interest in working with special needs kids and adults, Chris and Sam quickly noted how well people responded to their animals. And so were sown the seeds of the idea that led to Funky Farm.
Now home to between 100 and 150 animals of various breeds including Hamish the retired Carlton Draught Clydesdale to Crikey the crocodile (who early last year saw Chris out of the saddle for a time as he recovered from a bite to the arm) as well as a Scottish Highland cow, dingos, parrots, amphibians, deer and more, Funky Farm welcomes visitors from across the state and beyond.
Those with special needs are the priority but the general public are also more than welcomed and Chris gains great pleasure from noting that lovely interaction between human and animal. Whilst bigger zoos and animal themed parks offer deals for a oneon-one experience with a particular animal, every moment at Funky Farm is just that... “our visitors can spend quality time with a wombat, hold a snake, give an emu scratch, cuddle a kangaroo!”
The wellbeing of each animal is paramount but they have all been raised to enjoy human interaction and if they need a day off, they get it. Chris spends all of his days away from the track with his menagerie whilst Sam is fully hands-on, their daughter Ziva also relishing her animal relationships.
ADAM MICHAEL RUMSBY Stud Hand / Artist
ADAM MICHAEL RUMSBY
With his father Michael a Manilla (a small town 45km northwest of Tamworth) born jockey who spent the rest of his working life breaking in youngsters and preparing yearlings, Adam Michael Rumsby was born to love horses and was always bound to end up working with them. A familiar face around stud farms and yearling sales, Adam “other than a shortly lived career in the men’s section at the Scone Target” has been working with racehorses since he was 20.
Currently kept busy at the Newcastle stables of Mark Minervini, Adam has spent time with Rodney Northam, Robert Smerdon, Chris Waller and Gerald Ryan whilst also working major yearling sales for Arrowfield, Patinack, Bhima and Fernrigg; his highlights including leading the Hong Kong Derby- HKGr.1, 2000m winner Luger through the ring, also working closely with the Group Three winning Magic Millions graduates Shaquero and Prague... “such nice horses to have prepped,” he said.
For as long as he can remember - “from as soon as I could pick up a pencil” - Adam has enjoyed committing horses to paper. And this is how he combines his two passions, thoroughbreds and art.
Prince Of Penzance, Starcraft, All Too Hard, Winx, Fiorente, Zoustar, Juggler and Mentality are just some of the horses he has drawn, citing the inclusion of his portrait of the former in “Prince Of Penzance: The Extraordinary 2015 Melbourne Cup” as one his biggest achievements.
Working firstly with graphite and then colour pencils, Adam had no formal training - the talent was just always there and he remembers that “Dad was good with a pencil as well.”
“Drawing has always been something I’ve been good at. It didn’t matter if I wasn’t good at sport or at school, drawing was something that nobody could take away from me. I have always found it very therapeutic, I listen to music and drown in my art instead of in negative thoughts.”
“I get sentimental and feel very honoured when asked to draw animals who have passed on, that someone asks me to capture their animal’s spirit on paper - that’s a pretty good feeling.”
NICK LOVETT Racing Producer / Artist
NICK LOVETT
A Senior Producer at Racing. com, Nick Lovett has been a passionate supporter of all things racing ever since his thoroughbred namesake Nicholas John caught his eye in the mid 1980s. “I saw that he was running in the Sandown Cup and gave a school mate, who I knew was into racing, a ring for an assessment. He said he was a chance but that Toujours Mio would probably beat him home. They ran first and second and I thought that this must be very easy!”
Fast forward 35 years and Nick, along with that school friend Justin Kaufman, were in the Group One winner’s circle together, cheering
on star Magic Millions graduate Viddora to success in the Moir Stakes-Gr.1, 1000m and the Winterbottom Stakes-Gr.1, 1200m as well as the Magic Millions Sprint.
Working in various media positions including 16 years in graphics and production at Channel 10, two years at the Melbourne Polytechnic running the television course and another two years at McGuire Media, Nick has been at Racing.Com for five years - able to combine his work and his hobby.
Whilst first becoming interested in racing, Nick also took up another pastime which brings us to yet another person in our sport who is also blessed with artistic flair. Dabbling in painting from the
age of 13, mainly in watercolours before moving onto oils, Nick has honed his skills over the years and once sold 40 of 50 paintings featured in an exhibition.
Landscapes have been his main focus though he is also enjoying working on the subject matter thrown up by drone footage - “something that is completely new.” He is having a bit of a go at horses but jokingly admits that “I am struggling with it!”
Nick’s grandfather’s aunt Mildred Lovett features in the Australian Dictionary Of Biography, her entry noting her important contribution to the world of art. Aren’t genetics interesting?!
DEANNE PANYA Jockey / Artist
DEANNE PANYA
It seems that racing people are an artistic lot and another blessed with considerable natural talent is the New South Wales based jockey Deanne Panya.
Not born into a racing family, she nevertheless always had a passion for horses and it was her “childhood dream” to be a jockey... one that stemmed from an early thrill (she was around five years of age) of “sitting on a pony at a fair.”
The challenge being that she didn’t know anyone in the racing world and had no idea how to even start!
“After completing year 12 I thought it would be a good idea to have a gap year, to not get into anything too serious straight away. But I found a TAFE course for track riding and my twin sister Beany and I signed up. We got placed into work experience and the rest is history.”
From early days channelling her equine fascination into drawing, Deanne recalls that she “I became obsessed with them and I just kept drawing them, every day. I really think that this love of horses really helped me out in my artistic career.”
“I think it was mostly the bond and connection you can have with such a beautiful creature that fascinated me,” she said. “I wanted to know more about them, to learn about how they communicate with us and interpret us.”
Fast forward eight years into a successful racing career, Deanne - who considers a career highlight to be her win aboard Testashadow in the 2017 Magic Millions Cup - is combining her two great loves, riding and painting.
Redzel, Winx, Referral, Samadoubt, Single Gaze, Howmuchdoyouloveme, Rain Affair and Shovhog have all been subjects and she is currently enjoying working on a Lonhro portrait for Vin Cox.
As with Adam, Deanne finds art a great release. “It puts me in an optimistic mood, it makes me feel good and relieves stress most of the time.”
“Sometimes it does make me feel a little more stressed when it becomes challenging, but once I have worked out how to approach the painting, I get a lot satisfaction out of it. Especially when I am in the zone and it is completed.”
ANGELA FLEAY Float Driver / Cook Extraordinare
ANGELA FLEAY
And now to the culinary arts!
Starting her racing life in 1987 as a strapper for Yarra Glen trainer Ron Wood, Angela Fleay is one of racing’s all-rounders. She has ridden trackwork, broken in horses and has had a trainers licence. She has raced a city winner - Comaida Girl, who she also rode and strapped, and then reared and bred a winner (Nartarlee) out of her. And once she took a three week “holiday” from racing to ride her horse from Healesville to Canberra... and the very next morning she was back at track work!
For years Angela has worked hard, during one part of her training career (two years) leaving home at midnight to get her horses ready for 4am work across town whilst her local track was closed down after the bush fires that tore through the Yarra Valley.
With her trainers licence on hold, Angela is now a driver for Alternative Horse Transport, driving some very nice horses around the state; the likes of Lankan Rupee, Happy Trails, Samaready and Extreme Choice all her passengers.
“I love the job although at times it can be challenging,” she said. “But I enjoy the process of transporting horses through the whole process of their racing lives, from being foals to going to the breakers and then to the races. I love getting to know them and I also get to meet lots of lovely people.”
So how does Angela fit in another passion? Well its a complementary one because racing people appreciate a good meal - and Angela is a talented cook.
“I always have baked goodies and dog treats and have in my truck to share with everyone,” she said.
A Royal Melbourne show cook who has won blue ribbons every year from when she was four up to 45 years later when she retired from competitive baking, Angela now teaches and mentors up-and-coming show cooks.
A semi-finalist in the 2015 Foxtel show Great Australian Bakeoff, she also bakes for charities including the Royal Children’s Hospital and local organisation The Able Bakehouse. And if racing and baking are not enough, Angela is also a CFA volunteer... “I am proud to follow in the footsteps of my parents and grandparents as a third generation firefighter,” she said.
TRAVIS DOUDLE Trainer / Artist
TRAVIS DOUDLE
Yet another talented artist amongst us is the up-andcoming South Australian trainer Travis Doudle whose art actually led him into racing.
Not raised in a racing family, though his brother is a farrier whilst his grandfather mustered brumbies, Travis was keen from a young age on photography and when a school assignment saw him attend a trackwork session at Port Lincoln, he was immediately hooked.
And so he set upon the racing path though a career in the arts was still a possibility, so much so that after a successful exhibition in Melbourne he was able to fund a trip to the painting mecca - Paris.
“I enjoyed my time there but in the end it wasn’t for me, the horses were calling.”
Skilled at drawing, painting and sculpture (several of his pieces purchased by the Port Lincoln council), Travis does a fair bit of racing industry work, often asked by owners, trainers and jockeys to immortalize their favourites. In recent times with his training business growing he has not had the time do work on as much art as he would like but he has “got easel set up in the spare room ready to go!”
STEPHEN IRWIN Stud Worker / Writer And Sculptor
STEPHEN IRWIN
Also struck by the writing bug is Stephen Irwin whose self-published debut novel Contention has proven a popular read amongst his fellow horse enthusiasts in the Hunter Valley and beyond.
Based on a rivalry between two local trainers with their sights on Royal Ascot, Contention has since been followed up by two books focusing on the same characters, Stephen growing attached to creations along the way.
What makes Stephen’s writing accomplishments all the more amazing is that at, aged 42, he amazed specialists by developing late onset dyslexia. “They said they’d never seen it before.”
Growing up at Narrung Stud, the South Australian property (home to Adraan who made such an impact during such a short time) and then Blandford Park, both managed by his father, Stephen followed in Les’ footsteps working at various farms including Lindsay Park, Widden, Arrowfield and Yarraman.
He has operated his own Riverslea Farm and has enjoyed good success pin-hooking whilst also establishing a building business specializing in equine products, working on such projects as yearling complexes at Arrowfield Stud and Magic Millions (Perth).
It was his wife Shannon who suggested that Stephen should have a go at writing - “she said I should have a try as my mind never stops! So on the night I proposed to her I woke up early and started writing Contention. I never even knew that I could write, I left school at 14 to work with horses and then the dyslexia came along. It makes for some pretty wild writing and grammar at times!”
Stephen is also a sculptor, another talent he did not know he possessed. “I went to buy a sculpture I liked but it wasn’t for sale so I went back home and built it. I found that I really enjoyed the process and starting selling them for quite good money.”
Entering a prestigious Mudgee sculpture show, Stephen won the two major awards with both entries now displayed in the town’s “Sculptures In The Garden.” One of those, “Taking the Plunge” graces the cover of Contention and he made a smaller version of it as a Valentine’s gift for Shannon, using the proceeds of his prize to buy her an engagement ring.
Sculpting and writing have both proven to be releases for Stephen... “I write every night without fail, or at least send out submissions. When I finish a book it is like when I finish a sculpture, I am on a high for a few hours and then I come down.”
And so he will just keep writing!
RENEE GEELEN
RENEE GEELEN Racing Writer & Researcher / Romantic
“I was just a kid in a small New Zealand town who borrowed horses,” laughed Renee Geelen, a dyed-in-the-wool racing fan who pursued her passion despite having no family members sharing her interest.
“My mother blames our neighbour who owned Braless (winner of the 1977 NZ 1000 Guineas) whilst my father has a silly theory regarding a relative who owned the pony express in Russia prerevolution!”
“I saw that there was a whole world out there with data and numbers and horses together.”
Whilst studying physics and maths at the University Of Waikato, Renee worked with horses in the morning, firstly with small Te Rapa trainer and then with Graeme Rogerson. Kicking off her post study life with data analysis jobs, she purchased a broodmare and foal - cheering home her first winner.
Whilst starting a family, Renee began consultancy work, firstly for New Zealand Thoroughbred Marketing and then, upon a move to Australia, for various racing organisations including Bluebloods, Aushorse and the stud book, combining writing and data analysis. When some of that work dropped off she thought she would challenge herself and start work on a novel.
And so we come to Renee’s other passion, and that’s the right word - as she writes romance novels. Her first, “To Charm A Bluestocking” was published by Harlequin and she has written a series of novels since, several of which have horse racing themes. She continues to write for Bluebloods whilst raising her kids and reading over 100 books a year and she can’t wait to put more pens to paper.
“I’d love to write some non-fiction horse books too, actually the list of books I want to write is quite long!”
JIM ATKINSON Stud Owner / Pilot
JIM ATKINSON
Over a lengthy period breeding many classy gallopers, the Atkinson farmily of Furlong Stud have earned the respect of their peers. Hard working, skilled horse people with a dedication to the thoroughbred. But who, like all of us, enjoy a bit of down time.
And for Jim and his son Dan, that time has been spent flying radio controlled planes.
“Dan and I have always been interested in planes,” Jim said, “so one day in 2004 we wandered down to a local club to have a look. We got invited to give it a try and it grew from there.”
And boy did it grow, Dan now a professional pilot for a large company!
And whilst Jim has not tinkered in the hobby for a while, he still has not only his collection of planes - including one he built himself... “it is around 33% of full scale” - but his own airstrip on the farm. And he has spent time as instructor at the local club, encouraging further generations of mini-pilots.
Flying is, he says, exceptionally good fun and “a great escape, a chance to really chill out. And it was great for Dan growing up.”
“It teaches kids various thought processes whilst enjoying a good atmosphere amongst wonderful people from all walks of life; we have travelled to other clubs and made life-long friends,” he said of a hobby which knows no financial bounds.
“Some people spend a lot of money on their planes but you can have just as much fun with a cheap one you can control from your phone.”
