There was one heart stopping incident in the mid seventies which could have halted Dean Chapple’s love affair with harness racing before it got off the ground.

You’ll be hard pressed to find a horseman who isn’t enamoured of the sight of a talented trotter in full flight. Power Productions have kindly allowed me access to a video production highlighting the poetry of the trotting horse and the devotion of those who train them.

Ian Verning doesn’t mind his life long nickname of “Spud” although he is frustrated by the fact that he has no idea of its origins.

Australian harness racing currently boasts a plethora of talented drivers in the 20-25 age bracket. Those who appear regularly on metropolitan tracks enjoy the bulk of available media attention.

Trainers lucky enough to have a runner at a major trots meeting are conscious of the atmosphere only big time racing can generate. Miracle Mile night is something else again.

The 2022 Penrith racing year concluded on December 29th with what looked to be a run of the mill programme on paper. It took a rare training double by father and daughter duo David and Katie McGill, to inject a little “buzz” into the night.

A certain ninetieth birthday passed by quietly a few months ago without the bells and whistles it warranted. Harry Pearce, the elder statesman of Australian trots journalism much preferred a quiet gathering with his wife Barbara and the three generations for which they’re responsible…

Leon Jurd has been thinking outside the square for most of his forty four years in harness racing. In a remarkably diversified career, the now 61 year old has made his mark as a driver, trainer and bloodstock agent.

Stephanie Lippiatt couldn’t believe it had finally happened as she took Catch A Moment onto the track for the Schweppes Lady Drivers Invitational on Saturday night.

Brad Abbott picked exactly the right moment to visit his fellow trainer Leon Jurd at the Menangle training complex in December of 2016.

Almost forty harness racing participants and contributors were honoured at the Four Seasons Sydney last Saturday night.

Jason Proctor had two chances to finish his race driving career on a winning note at Newcastle on Sept 17th 2016.

I was surprised when Club Menangle historian Peter Collier told me that forty trotting trainers and drivers have died in accidents since the sport began in Australia. In conjunction with his Victorian counterpart John Peck, Peter has worked tirelessly for years to identify the people involved and to trace the circumstances of their fatal accidents.

Dennis Picker is one trots trainer who has no intention of getting caught up in the grind of racing all year round. 

In the last six or seven years Dennis has established a pattern of working a team of twenty horses, including five yearlings

Howard James was twelve years old when he first met Brian Hancock. Young Howard spent most weekends and school holidays with brothers, Brian and Richard Hancock, who were rapidly establishing their commercial training operation.

The crowd had dwindled and the bids were sparse when Lot 202 walked into the ring at the 2015 Bathurst Gold Crown yearling sale. Chris Frisby had already secured a couple of “cheapies” and wasn’t really interested in a third. He sat down for a moment and took a cursory look at the Sportswriter colt from Rooftop Fairy.

Queensland’s Weidemann family have been attending Tamworth harness meetings for more than thirty years, which remains a source of bewilderment to most people in the sport.

Had Lisa Miles not had an inherent love of the standardbred horse, she may have pursued a career with the RAAF. For the last seven years of her time at Melton’s Mowbray College, young Lisa Lewis was a member of the Air Training Corps.

The last few months of 2008 passed very slowly for a certain Shepparton schoolgirl, who couldn’t wait to follow her dream.

Harry Martin seems to have been around Sydney harness racing tracks forever, and was well ensconced when I trained and drove my very first horse, a two year old filly called Red Mittens. Harry had a filly called Miss Viscount at the same time, and I clearly recall going around with him in early trials, and in a race or two.