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ROYAL AGRICULTURAL
SOCIETY OF QUEENSLAND |
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Equine Hall of Fame
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Athol Strong (1906 -1973) Athol Strong was born at Alstonville in New South Wales. The love of horses was nurtured by his family’s Irish heritage. As a teenager, Athol purchased ponies from the Lismore saleyards and resold them for a small profit. It was in the field of thoroughbred racing and trading that Athol established his lifetime commitment and national reputation for excellence. In modern times no individual owner has traded in greater numbers. In 1945, Athol and eight drovers walked 106 racehorses from Maitland to Brisbane - a distance of 640 kilometres. They travelled the stock routes, and urged the weary Thoroughbreds over the Story Bridge to stables in the Brisbane’s racing suburb of Hendra. One of those horses, Marchotti, became a wartime star at Albion Park. Athol Strong developed a thriving business, which endured for generations. He bought 50 yearlings a year from sales throughout Australia and New Zealand. The horses were broken in and educated and then offered for sale at auctions that were held six times a year. A premier trainer, Athol’s two-year olds dominated Queensland racing and many great Australian racehorses began their careers under his guidance. They included the dual Epsom Handicap winner Toi Port, Doomben Cup winners Dream and Qualeta, and Tosha, a winner of 17 races. Well-bred fillies became foundation mares for the Queensland Thoroughbred breeding industry and Mr Strong also established Stradbroke Stud in NSW. Athol and Doris Strong’s family followed in Athol’s footsteps, with sons Jim, Neil, Daryl and Athol Jnr. all becoming respected members of the Queensland racing fraternity. Their daughter Lynette now lives in New Zealand.
Janine Haslewood Turner was born in Brisbane in 1929. Her career spans a lifetime of riding and competition with ponies, hacks and Thoroughbred horses. One of her best horses was Saratoga, who began his show ring career at the Allora Show and graduated to championships at the Brisbane Royal National Show. Janine won numerous Lady Rider classes and was successful on several occasions at the Brisbane Royal Show in the Queensland equivalent of Victoria’s prestigious Garryowen Trophy. Janine owned the pony mare Regalia, who became the dam of Gaiety, the champion pony hack at Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide Royal Shows. She also showed the Welsh Mountain pony stallion Rhyl Glyndwr with great success. Her love of horses extends to the Sport of Kings. Janine bred and raced Harmonise, one of Queensland’s best racehorses. Janine was a regular at track work and leading turf writer Keith Noud said her knowledge and eye for a horse was invaluable. Janine has given her time generously to help others, particularly children. She organised the foundation of the Darling Downs Pony Club, was Chief Instructor for that club and for the Darling Downs zone. She assisted in the establishment of pony clubs at Allora, Clifton and Miles and was a guest instructor at pony clubs in Queensland and New South Wales. She coordinated the first pony club camp at the Toowoomba Showgrounds and the first one-day event for pony clubs to be held on the Darling Downs was conducted on Janine’s property ‘Bredon’. She also arranged for Australian Olympic Teams coaches Franz Maringer and Carl Jurenak to conduct equine schools in Toowoomba. Janine Turner has been mentor and friend to many children who have passed on the riding skills they learnt from her to their own children. Jan’s great personal courage in the face of a debilitating illness is epitomised by the fact that she is still helping many voluntary groups from her wheelchair.
By Cam Fella from Madam Madusa The Standardbred stallion Fake Left came to Australia after an outstanding racing career in the United States of America. He stood at Egmont Park Stud at Biddeston and Alabar Bloodstock at Echuca. Foaled in 1989, Fake Left won the prestigious 1992 Little Brown Jug Series in Delaware and Ohio. This remarkable stallion revolutionised the Australian Standardbred breeding industry, breaking record after record. At the time of his premature death in February 2001, he was represented by five crops to race for winners of $7.25 million. Since the first progeny of Fake Left began racing in 1996, he has been named Champion Sire in many categories. He was named Leading Australian Sire and Leading Juvenile Sire for the 1999-2000 seasons and the 2000-2001 seasons. The progeny of Fake Left are noted for their speed and they show all the courage of their sire. In his first crop, he sired Masked Crusader, the Australian Pacing Gold Colts winner, and Sheza Fake, winner of the Bathhurst Gold Tiara Final. Lightfoot Lady was the fastest two-year old pacer in Australasia in 1997-98. The three-year-old filly Cherry Cheer won the 2001 Australian Oaks and the Victorian Oaks and Five Star Comfort finished third in the Australian Oaks after defeating Cherry Cheer in the Queensland Oaks. Fake Left sired both champion pacers and trotters. Bonbillie Fella won the Redwood Two Year Old Trotters Classic, defeating some of the best young horses in Australia and New Zealand. Part owners Mark and Sue Lichtwark, Kevin Seymour, Peter Volk and John Humphreys said that they had been privileged to own a stallion like Fake Left.
With face half-hid ‘neath a broad-brimmed hat That shades from the heat’s white waves, And shouldered whip with its greenhide plait, The driver plods with a gait like that Of his weary, patient slaves... Ne of the most enduring images of the Australia bush is that of horse teams pulling their cargo through our rugged and unforgiving outback. Every bushel of wheat and pound of wool from the western plains was carried by teams from farm to railhead. From lush green coast to the dry golden interior countless teams worked day after day to forge the ties binding country to towns. One step at a time these teams of working horses toiled side by side with our pioneers to open up the land. More than just moving produce, man and beast toiled together to clear the scrub, dig dams, and break the earth. They helped to conquer the tyranny of distance that challenged this young nation. Our developing economy ran on the wheels of the wagons to the rumble of the teams’ hooves. Today the teams have been replaced by trucks and powered machinery. Our country owes a debt of gratitude to these ‘weary, patient slaves’.
May Thompson is regarded by some as the most accomplished horsewoman Australia has produced and certainly one of the most decorated. Her riding achievements on the flat, over jumps and in campdrafting, in both Queensland and NSW span five decades and have not been equalled. Elizabeth Mary Wood was born at Dalby in 1910. By age seven May, as she was known, won her first prize as girl rider at the Brisbane Show and remained unbeaten there for 10 years. May was named Best All-round Lady Rider at the Brisbane Royal Show in 1931 and broke the Brisbane Ladies’ High Jump record in 1934 when she rode her horse Whalebone over 7 feet 1 inch (2.16 m). May married another Hall of Fame inductee, Colin Thompson in 1934 and continued to compete under her maiden name of Wood. She represented Queensland in an international campdrafting competition in Sydney in 1935 and was a member of the Queensland Ladies Campdrafting team in Sydney in 1948. Five times during the 1930s May represented Queensland in interstate competition, and in 1949 she won the Interstate Challenge Cup for jumpers at Sydney. May won a total of 13 events at the prestigious Warwick Rodeo, a record unequalled since records began in 1929. Her wins include the May Scott Memorial Trophy for the most successful lady rider in the Warwick Gold Cup on four occasions, and the Risdon Cup Draft in 1958. The Warwick record books are littered with her name. At Warwick, Brisbane, Sydney, and in country shows and rodeos throughout Queensland and New South Wales, May Thompson’s riding successes may never be equalled. May Thompson died in 1972.
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