Will bring a tear to a glass eye.

[2minuteman]

This is a story about a 74 year old bush harness racing trainer, an 84 year old owner and the slow, hopeless horse they wouldn’t send to the knackery, despite the fact it had raced 85 times without winning.
It’s a story of persistence, of friendship, and of the remarkable thing that happened just the other Thursday in Ararat, Victoria, in the lengthening twilight shadows of the Grampians.
The story begins in Mt Gambier, South Australia, at the stables of retired dairy farmer Tony Glynn. Glynn trains pacers as a hobby. His Dad used to train gallopers but Tony prefers the harness horses. Standardbreds are more durable than those thin-boned, flighty thoroughbreds, even if they test a man’s patience to its limits.
In ordinary circumstances, a horse like Tony Glynn’s eight year old black gelding Zechief would have been cast aside years ago. Early this year, his record was 60 starts for no wins, and just $900 in stakes. You’ve got two choices with a horse like that. Standardbreds make good pets. They make even better pet food.
But Zechief had sentimental value. He is owned by a Mrs Frida Badenoch, a widow who used to run a deli on the outskirts of Mount Gambier with her late husband. The husband was injured in a harness racing accident and could barely walk for the last seven years of his life. Zechief was foaled just before he died. This was to be Mrs Badenoch’s last horse, and there was no way she was getting rid of it.
Tony Glynn, a lifelong friend of Mrs Badenoch, broke the horse in and trained it from day one. “He was an honest little trier,” Glynn says. “A nice horse, very pretty, very stylish in his action.”
Alas, his substance didn’t match his style. Then one day, Zechief was injured in the float, and missed 12 months of racing. On his return to the track, he was even slower than usual. So Glynn changed his training method.
Instead of driving the horse himself in the sulky at trackwork, he tethered the horse to a “jogger” – an improvised device which trails behind his ute. That got old Zechief’s mind on the job. By October this year, he’d racked up 10 career placing and lifetime stakes of $4,463. But he still hadn’t cracked that breakthrough win.
In a typical race in the western Victorian meetings Glynn frequents, the $5,000 prize pool is divided as follows: $3,375 for 1st, $750 for 2nd, $500 for 3rd, $250 for 4th and $125 for 5th.
Glynn’s float is large enough to carry two horses, three at a squeeze. If one of them finishes fifth, the $125 cheque more or less covers the cost of petrol for the trip. Glynn is a realist. He’s not trying to get rich. All the same, the occasional $3,375 winner’s cheque doesn’t go astray. Oats aren’t free, after all.
October 13 2011 dawned clear and sunny in Mount Gambier. Tony Glynn hitched up his float in the early afternoon and drove the three hours to Ararat. Alongside him, as usual, was Mrs Badenoch. She travelled everywhere with her horse. Has done since day one.
Early evening. Zechief was running in Race Two. He had drawn “the pole”, which is harness racing jargon for the prized inside draw. Glynn had another thing going for him. He had managed to book champion reinswoman Kerryn Manning to drive Zechief
“I can win for you tonight,” Manning told Glynn on his arrival at the track. “He’s been knocking on the door. A win is just around the corner.”
You’ve got to love her optimism. Zechief’s previous five runs were an 8th, a 4th, a 6th, an 8th and another 8th. If that’s knocking on the door, you’d have to say he wasn’t knocking very loudly.
But Manning, who is easily one of the best in the country despite living in the bush, was serious. She’d driven other horses for Glynn before, and knew and trusted him. She had no reason to sweet talk him.
We’ll put you out of your misery. Zechief won. At his 86th start, all the little things that usually went wrong finally went right for once. Lady luck, not to mention a fine lady reinswoman, was at last on his side.
Zechief started well from his inside draw and settled behind the leader and favourite Xbolt. Leaders often win at the trots, but there was a battle for the lead up front which sapped Xbolt of vital energy.
While that was going on, Manning sat “smoking the pipe” on Zechief. That’s racing jargon for patiently awaiting an opening. The opening came in the home straight, and Manning steered Zechief along the inside for a narrow but decisive win.
The race caller didn’t make a song and dance. A horse winning its first race after 86 starts is probably commonplace out Ararat way. But to Tony Glynn, it meant plenty, not least because he’d had a little wager at 10-1.
That gave him enough to give Kerryn Manning a little extra something. He also paid $100 to buy a framed photo of the finish. They give those photos away at the gallops. Not at the trots, they don’t. Only the dust and flies are free at the trots.
Tony Glynn had watched the win trackside, near the wining post. When he turned around, he saw Mrs Badenoch alone in the tiny rickety stand, grinning from ear to ear.
“She was tickled pink,” Glynn recalls. “She must have said ‘it’s a good feeling’ 50 times on the way home.”
Somewhere in a flash Melbourne restaurant this week, a group of wealthy men and women will toast their fast horse and their extra millions. But here’s an even safer bet. I bet you they don’t feel as satisfied deep down inside as a certain Mount Gambier widow by the name of Frida Badenoch.
Twitter: @antsharwood
Hoofnote: Zechief has had two runs since his Ararat win, missing a place both times. He’s having a well-earned rest now, and will resume competitive duties in a few weeks. Should we duck down the TAB and bet on him? “I wouldn’t go crazy,” Glynn advises. “But you never know, he could bob up again.”


That's what it is all about!!

[Danno]

This is a story about a 74 year old bush harness racing trainer, an 84 year old owner and the slow, hopeless horse they wouldn’t send to the knackery, despite the fact it had raced 85 times without winning.
It’s a story of persistence, of friendship, and of the remarkable thing that happened just the other Thursday in Ararat, Victoria, in the lengthening twilight shadows of the Grampians.
The story begins in Mt Gambier, South Australia, at the stables of retired dairy farmer Tony Glynn. Glynn trains pacers as a hobby. His Dad used to train gallopers but Tony prefers the harness horses. Standardbreds are more durable than those thin-boned, flighty thoroughbreds, even if they test a man’s patience to its limits.
In ordinary circumstances, a horse like Tony Glynn’s eight year old black gelding Zechief would have been cast aside years ago. Early this year, his record was 60 starts for no wins, and just $900 in stakes. You’ve got two choices with a horse like that. Standardbreds make good pets. They make even better pet food.
But Zechief had sentimental value. He is owned by a Mrs Frida Badenoch, a widow who used to run a deli on the outskirts of Mount Gambier with her late husband. The husband was injured in a harness racing accident and could barely walk for the last seven years of his life. Zechief was foaled just before he died. This was to be Mrs Badenoch’s last horse, and there was no way she was getting rid of it.
Tony Glynn, a lifelong friend of Mrs Badenoch, broke the horse in and trained it from day one. “He was an honest little trier,” Glynn says. “A nice horse, very pretty, very stylish in his action.”
Alas, his substance didn’t match his style. Then one day, Zechief was injured in the float, and missed 12 months of racing. On his return to the track, he was even slower than usual. So Glynn changed his training method.
Instead of driving the horse himself in the sulky at trackwork, he tethered the horse to a “jogger” – an improvised device which trails behind his ute. That got old Zechief’s mind on the job. By October this year, he’d racked up 10 career placing and lifetime stakes of $4,463. But he still hadn’t cracked that breakthrough win.
In a typical race in the western Victorian meetings Glynn frequents, the $5,000 prize pool is divided as follows: $3,375 for 1st, $750 for 2nd, $500 for 3rd, $250 for 4th and $125 for 5th.
Glynn’s float is large enough to carry two horses, three at a squeeze. If one of them finishes fifth, the $125 cheque more or less covers the cost of petrol for the trip. Glynn is a realist. He’s not trying to get rich. All the same, the occasional $3,375 winner’s cheque doesn’t go astray. Oats aren’t free, after all.
October 13 2011 dawned clear and sunny in Mount Gambier. Tony Glynn hitched up his float in the early afternoon and drove the three hours to Ararat. Alongside him, as usual, was Mrs Badenoch. She travelled everywhere with her horse. Has done since day one.
Early evening. Zechief was running in Race Two. He had drawn “the pole”, which is harness racing jargon for the prized inside draw. Glynn had another thing going for him. He had managed to book champion reinswoman Kerryn Manning to drive Zechief
“I can win for you tonight,” Manning told Glynn on his arrival at the track. “He’s been knocking on the door. A win is just around the corner.”
You’ve got to love her optimism. Zechief’s previous five runs were an 8th, a 4th, a 6th, an 8th and another 8th. If that’s knocking on the door, you’d have to say he wasn’t knocking very loudly.
But Manning, who is easily one of the best in the country despite living in the bush, was serious. She’d driven other horses for Glynn before, and knew and trusted him. She had no reason to sweet talk him.
We’ll put you out of your misery. Zechief won. At his 86th start, all the little things that usually went wrong finally went right for once. Lady luck, not to mention a fine lady reinswoman, was at last on his side.
Zechief started well from his inside draw and settled behind the leader and favourite Xbolt. Leaders often win at the trots, but there was a battle for the lead up front which sapped Xbolt of vital energy.
While that was going on, Manning sat “smoking the pipe” on Zechief. That’s racing jargon for patiently awaiting an opening. The opening came in the home straight, and Manning steered Zechief along the inside for a narrow but decisive win.
The race caller didn’t make a song and dance. A horse winning its first race after 86 starts is probably commonplace out Ararat way. But to Tony Glynn, it meant plenty, not least because he’d had a little wager at 10-1.
That gave him enough to give Kerryn Manning a little extra something. He also paid $100 to buy a framed photo of the finish. They give those photos away at the gallops. Not at the trots, they don’t. Only the dust and flies are free at the trots.
Tony Glynn had watched the win trackside, near the wining post. When he turned around, he saw Mrs Badenoch alone in the tiny rickety stand, grinning from ear to ear.
“She was tickled pink,” Glynn recalls. “She must have said ‘it’s a good feeling’ 50 times on the way home.”
Somewhere in a flash Melbourne restaurant this week, a group of wealthy men and women will toast their fast horse and their extra millions. But here’s an even safer bet. I bet you they don’t feel as satisfied deep down inside as a certain Mount Gambier widow by the name of Frida Badenoch.
Twitter: @antsharwood
Hoofnote: Zechief has had two runs since his Ararat win, missing a place both times. He’s having a well-earned rest now, and will resume competitive duties in a few weeks. Should we duck down the TAB and bet on him? “I wouldn’t go crazy,” Glynn advises. “But you never know, he could bob up again.”


That's what it is all about!!


Great story,thanks Ron,
and that is what it's all about at the end of the day, if any of us were in this silly game for the money we would have packed up years ago!

saying that, I'm still gunna look him up to see if he raced at 2! ha ha.

Cheers
Dan

[Danno]

Hey Ron,
my point about 2 YO's is dead in the water Zechief races twice as a 2YO for a 10th and a last and he has been improving ever since!!

Seriously though, that is a heart warming story.

[Diesel]

Lovely story Ron....

If only there were more of them.
Brings a smile to the face.

[aussiebreno]

Classic harness story


Lovely story Ron....

If only there were more of them.
Brings a smile to the face.
I don't know about that; I'd rather them win earlier than at start 86.

[Don Corleone]

Thanks for posting that Ron. Brilliant. I am sure we all know someone/somehorse similar to that and every now and then we need reminded what a great little industry we are in. Go Zechief!!

[Greg Hando]

Classic harness story


I don't know about that; I'd rather them win earlier than at start 86.


Brendan until you breed one and keep it and it win's then you'll understand how it makes you feel the only thing better is seeing your kid's born

[Danno]

Brendan until you breed one and keep it and it win's then you'll understand how it makes you feel the only thing better is seeing your kid's born

Gee i wish I'd have said that Greg, hits the nail on the head as far as I'm concerned.

[2minuteman]

Classic harness story


I don't know about that; I'd rather them win earlier than at start 86.
You totally miss the point Brendan!

[aussiebreno]

I think you guys missed the point. A win is great whether start 1 or start 86.
I meant I'd rather horses win before start 86; rather than having more stories where the owners have to wait that long.

[Greg Hando]

No didn't miss the point Brendan it is probably the way your comment was perceived as being narky because of the length of time before winning perhaps.
Some people are only in the sport for fun and as a hobby and don't care about winning they just love the horse's and our sport and participation with their families and friend's and to be able to get one to a race is a bonus
and is enough reward for some these are the people that keep our sport going.The big people come and go but the battler is always their for the right reason's .

[David Summers]

No didn't miss the point Brendan it is probably the way your comment was perceived as being narky because of the length of time before winning perhaps.
Some people are only in the sport for fun and as a hobby and don't care about winning they just love the horse's and our sport and participation with their families and friend's and to be able to get one to a race is a bonus
and is enough reward for some these are the people that keep our sport going.The big people come and go but the battler is always their for the right reason's .

Well said Greg. My sentiments exactly.

[aussiebreno]

No didn't miss the point Brendan it is probably the way your comment was perceived as being narky because of the length of time before winning perhaps.
Some people are only in the sport for fun and as a hobby and don't care about winning they just love the horse's and our sport and participation with their families and friend's and to be able to get one to a race is a bonus
and is enough reward for some these are the people that keep our sport going.The big people come and go but the battler is always their for the right reason's .
Well sorry if it was perceived that way but now do you understand what I meant and are you ok with that?

[2minuteman]

Well sorry if it was perceived that way but now do you understand what I meant and are you ok with that?

Okey Dokey

[Greg Hando]

No problem here Brendan

[Lucky Camilla"s Lovechild]

This is a story about a 74 year old bush harness racing trainer, an 84 year old owner and the slow, hopeless horse they wouldn’t send to the knackery, despite the fact it had raced 85 times without winning.
It’s a story of persistence, of friendship, and of the remarkable thing that happened just the other Thursday in Ararat, Victoria, in the lengthening twilight shadows of the Grampians.
The story begins in Mt Gambier, South Australia, at the stables of retired dairy farmer Tony Glynn. Glynn trains pacers as a hobby. His Dad used to train gallopers but Tony prefers the harness horses. Standardbreds are more durable than those thin-boned, flighty thoroughbreds, even if they test a man’s patience to its limits.
In ordinary circumstances, a horse like Tony Glynn’s eight year old black gelding Zechief would have been cast aside years ago. Early this year, his record was 60 starts for no wins, and just $900 in stakes. You’ve got two choices with a horse like that. Standardbreds make good pets. They make even better pet food.
But Zechief had sentimental value. He is owned by a Mrs Frida Badenoch, a widow who used to run a deli on the outskirts of Mount Gambier with her late husband. The husband was injured in a harness racing accident and could barely walk for the last seven years of his life. Zechief was foaled just before he died. This was to be Mrs Badenoch’s last horse, and there was no way she was getting rid of it.
Tony Glynn, a lifelong friend of Mrs Badenoch, broke the horse in and trained it from day one. “He was an honest little trier,” Glynn says. “A nice horse, very pretty, very stylish in his action.”
Alas, his substance didn’t match his style. Then one day, Zechief was injured in the float, and missed 12 months of racing. On his return to the track, he was even slower than usual. So Glynn changed his training method.
Instead of driving the horse himself in the sulky at trackwork, he tethered the horse to a “jogger” – an improvised device which trails behind his ute. That got old Zechief’s mind on the job. By October this year, he’d racked up 10 career placing and lifetime stakes of $4,463. But he still hadn’t cracked that breakthrough win.
In a typical race in the western Victorian meetings Glynn frequents, the $5,000 prize pool is divided as follows: $3,375 for 1st, $750 for 2nd, $500 for 3rd, $250 for 4th and $125 for 5th.
Glynn’s float is large enough to carry two horses, three at a squeeze. If one of them finishes fifth, the $125 cheque more or less covers the cost of petrol for the trip. Glynn is a realist. He’s not trying to get rich. All the same, the occasional $3,375 winner’s cheque doesn’t go astray. Oats aren’t free, after all.
October 13 2011 dawned clear and sunny in Mount Gambier. Tony Glynn hitched up his float in the early afternoon and drove the three hours to Ararat. Alongside him, as usual, was Mrs Badenoch. She travelled everywhere with her horse. Has done since day one.
Early evening. Zechief was running in Race Two. He had drawn “the pole”, which is harness racing jargon for the prized inside draw. Glynn had another thing going for him. He had managed to book champion reinswoman Kerryn Manning to drive Zechief
“I can win for you tonight,” Manning told Glynn on his arrival at the track. “He’s been knocking on the door. A win is just around the corner.”
You’ve got to love her optimism. Zechief’s previous five runs were an 8th, a 4th, a 6th, an 8th and another 8th. If that’s knocking on the door, you’d have to say he wasn’t knocking very loudly.
But Manning, who is easily one of the best in the country despite living in the bush, was serious. She’d driven other horses for Glynn before, and knew and trusted him. She had no reason to sweet talk him.
We’ll put you out of your misery. Zechief won. At his 86th start, all the little things that usually went wrong finally went right for once. Lady luck, not to mention a fine lady reinswoman, was at last on his side.
Zechief started well from his inside draw and settled behind the leader and favourite Xbolt. Leaders often win at the trots, but there was a battle for the lead up front which sapped Xbolt of vital energy.
While that was going on, Manning sat “smoking the pipe” on Zechief. That’s racing jargon for patiently awaiting an opening. The opening came in the home straight, and Manning steered Zechief along the inside for a narrow but decisive win.
The race caller didn’t make a song and dance. A horse winning its first race after 86 starts is probably commonplace out Ararat way. But to Tony Glynn, it meant plenty, not least because he’d had a little wager at 10-1.
That gave him enough to give Kerryn Manning a little extra something. He also paid $100 to buy a framed photo of the finish. They give those photos away at the gallops. Not at the trots, they don’t. Only the dust and flies are free at the trots.
Tony Glynn had watched the win trackside, near the wining post. When he turned around, he saw Mrs Badenoch alone in the tiny rickety stand, grinning from ear to ear.
“She was tickled pink,” Glynn recalls. “She must have said ‘it’s a good feeling’ 50 times on the way home.”
Somewhere in a flash Melbourne restaurant this week, a group of wealthy men and women will toast their fast horse and their extra millions. But here’s an even safer bet. I bet you they don’t feel as satisfied deep down inside as a certain Mount Gambier widow by the name of Frida Badenoch.
Twitter: @antsharwood
Hoofnote: Zechief has had two runs since his Ararat win, missing a place both times. He’s having a well-earned rest now, and will resume competitive duties in a few weeks. Should we duck down the TAB and bet on him? “I wouldn’t go crazy,” Glynn advises. “But you never know, he could bob up again.”


That's what it is all about!!

Perhaps Mr Rosati should have a read of this before he threatens to sell up again.

[2minuteman]

That's drawing a bit of a long bow is it not? I thought he explained his feelings quite acceptably.

[strong persuader]

I thoroughly enjoyed the Zechief story. Mr Rosati's plight just made me shake my head and think how in the hell are all of us lesser lights meant to feel about this situation. Spoke with a fellow today who had the pleasure of upsetting the plans in one of the subject races in the current scandal, it made me delightful that there is at least one case where the cheats didn't prosper. :)

[David Summers]

Phil, there is more than one shonky race where those "best laid plans" of the cheats came unstuck.

[strong persuader]

Phil, there is more than one shonky race where those "best laid plans" of the cheats came unstuck.
Feeling better by the minute :) Also knowing that their just desserts are currently being prepared also helps :)

[nowuseeme]

a bottler of a story about someones persistence to win a race.you do wonder how some keep trying when there is not a level playing field out there.i only hope to read more stories like this to see the better side of the industry