John Tapp Racing

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 was suddenly conscious of passers by in high spiri...

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 many times in races by Gary Willetts, an expatriat...

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 Doomben treble got him away to a flying start and th...

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 it’s been for the Victorian born horseman whose rid...

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 Ross almost six years ago. He was in reminiscent m...

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 later Scott landed the coveted Caulfield and Melb...

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 with a horseman who never rode a winner as an apprent...

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 talking about Cambar’s two early wins at Wagga when rid...

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 for a lengthy chat about the early days of his appr...

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 the archives and give it another run.  One of Be...

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 proved he’s on track for a TAB Highway mission. The...

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 the lead on Metal Bar and romped home by more tha...

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. Like many of his listeners and colleagues I was stu...

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 enormous impact on Australian racing for three decades....

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 that took him to racing’s biggest stage. On learnin...

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’s services are in regular demand in the Southern...

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. In the recently concluded 2023/2024 season she...

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, with little time to spare. We pinned him down last...

  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 in 2013. Young Orman’s emergence as one of Aust...

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 scholarship” but landed a job in his own right three years...

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 father-to-be was happy to talk to us about his me...

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 seasons of race riding he’s approaching 400 winners...

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 special interview about his life and the career he c...

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 an even better podcast. Tony begins by talking ab...

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 have been extraordinary. It’s a privilege to welc...