Detailed Information on the Hall of Fame
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Racing Hall of Fame Inductees 2009 Jockeys Harold Badger Harold Badger was so small as a schoolboy that he was constantly advised to seek a career as a jockey. He took this advice to heart, and leaving school at the age of 14 in 1922, he was soon apprenticed at Flemington to Richard Bradfield, winner of 4 Melbourne Cups. It was his light weight that led to Badger’s first major success, when Bradfield took him to South Australia and he won the 1925 Adelaide Cup on Stralia carrying 6st 10lb (43 kg). Granted his senior jockey’s licence in 1927, he moved to Adelaide as stable jockey for trainer Alf Williams. Badger was an immediate success, winning the jockeys’ premiership in his first season. Returning to Melbourne in 1930, Badger rode for the powerful Lou Robertson stable and for Frank Musgrave, trainer of Ajax. With Ajax’s regular rider, Maurice McCarten unavailable, Badger took the mount in the 1937 Victoria Derby and rode Ajax into second place, beaten by the narrowest of margins. Badger and Ajax went on to form one of the great partnerships in turf history – Badger riding Ajax in 37 races for 30 wins, five seconds, and two thirds. Success on Ajax put Badger in demand with leading Victorian owners and trainers, and he won his first Victorian jockeys’ premiership in the 1938-39 season. Further premierships came in 1939-40, 1940-41, 1941-42, 1942-43, and 1947-48. Among his many big race successes Badger numbered two Caulfield Cups, Moonee Valley, Adelaide and Brisbane Cups, two Doncaster Handicaps, two Epsom Handicaps, two Cox Plates, two Newmarket Handicaps, and three Futurity Stakes. - 2 - Jim Johnson In a career which spanned more than 30 years, Jim Johnson’s skill and vigour brought him success in some 125 feature races. Johnson was a late-comer to big-time racing. He rode his first winner in 1945, and by the early 1960s his winning tally was over 1,000 and he had won four Adelaide jockeys’ premierships. But he was little known in the eastern states and there was little demand there for his services. In 1963 he had a stroke of luck when he picked up the ride on Gatum Gatum in the Melbourne Cup. His win in the Cup lifted him into prominence and persuaded him to try his luck full-time in Victoria. Success came quickly and he won the Melbourne jockeys’ premiership in 1966-67. Highlights of his career included his dominance of the 1966 Melbourne spring carnival when he won nine weight-for-age events; his partnership firstly with Winfreux, and later with Tobin Bronze on whom he won the Caulfield Cup and two Cox Plates; and his dual Melbourne Cup successes on Rain Lover in 1968 and 1969. Johnson rode in Singapore 1970-73, winning the jockeys’ premiership in 1972 and 1973. When he finally retired in 1976 he had ridden 2158 winners. Trainers BaylBaylyy Payten When Tom Payten died in 1920, his son Bayly took over his father’s stables in Botany St, Randwick. Like his father he was blessed with great acumen in setting horses for races that suited them. He was also a gifted tutor of apprentices – Alf Johnson, Milton Sullivan, Ray Carter, Ray Selkrig and Athol Mulley were all indentured to him. Payten was one of the first trainers to recognise the talents of Darby Munro, who became the stable’s principal jockey. During the 1920s the finest horse to pass through his stables was Valicare, who won for him the 1926 AJC Oaks and Doncaster Handicap, and beat the champion Windbag by 8 lengths in the Rawson Stakes. In the 1930s he trained Siren to win the 1936 VRC Wakeful Stakes, VRC Edward Manifold Stakes and VRC Oaks, and Feminist to win the 1939 Metropolitan Handicap. He also enjoyed great success with Hadrian who won for him the Canterbury Guineas, Rosehill Guineas, and Hobartville Stakes. Payten’s most successful period came in the 1940s, when he won seven trainers’ premierships between 1940 and 1948. He died suddenly in 1948 at the early age of 52. - 3 - Jack Green A member of a famous sporting family, Jack Green excelled as an amateur boxer and rugby footballer before five years service in World War 11. In 1947 he was granted a NSW trainer’s permit, and began to make his name with a small team of horses, including a number of ‘crocks’ and problem horses such as Silent, Conductor and Winmil, which he restored to winning form. Green’s career received a huge boost through his association with the progeny of Star Kingdom. The sire’s first two winners, Kingster (AJC Breeders’ Plate) and Ultrablue (AJC Gimcrack Stakes), were both trained by Green, and there was rarely a time when there was not a son or daughter of Star Kingdom in his charge. Among the stable stars were the full brothers Sky High and Skyline, who were bred and raced by AJC Chairman Sir Brian Crowley, Sky High raced for five seasons and won 29 races including the Golden Slipper Stakes, Victoria Derby, Lightning Stakes (twice), Futurity Stakes, Mackinnon Stakes, Caulfield Stakes (twice), AJC All-Aged Stakes and Epsom Handicap. Skyline won only four races, but they included the Golden Slipper Stakes, the AJC Derby and the STC Hill Stakes. Other progeny of Star Kingdom to excel under Green’s training were Starover and Gold Stakes. Green’s greatest training feat was the victory of Baystone in the 1958 Melbourne Cup. He had bought Baystone in 1954 as a yearling and patiently developed him into a strong two mile performer. Although Green never won the Sydney trainers’ premiership, he was four times second to Tommy Smith, and had some 80 feature race wins to his credit. He was tragically killed in a car accident in 1972. Horses Strawberry Road Strawberry Road proved his star quality by his performances at the highest level in Australia, Europe and the United States. Foaled and owned in New South Wales, Strawberry Road was sent to Queensland trainer, Doug Bougoure. As a three-year-old he won 5 consecutive races in Brisbane and then went south for the 1983 Sydney Autumn Carnival. After a close second to Marscay in the Hobartville Stakes, he won the Rosehill Guineas, and, on a bog track, had a devastating 5 ½ length victory in the AJC Derby. His performance resulted in him being voted the Australian Horse of the Year. As a spring four- - 4 - year-old, Strawberry Road achieved an amazing treble at Moonee Valley – the 1,200 metre Manikato Stakes, the 1600 metre Feehan Stakes and the 2,040 metre Cox Plate. Following a change of ownership, Strawberry Road was set for an overseas campaign in which he ran a creditable sixth in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, third in the Washington International and won the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Baden in Germany. In 1985, following his sale to French owner Daniel Wildenstein, he won the Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt, and the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in France. In the United States he ran second, beaten a nose, in the Breeders’ Cup Turf and won at Group 2 level in California. In 1987 Strawberry Road was retired from the track with earnings of $690, 080 in Australia and nearly $1.5 million overseas. At stud in Kentucky he proved an outstanding sire, being third in North American rankings in 1998. CCComicComic Court Comic Court was renowned for the courage and versatility which enabled him to win races from 6 furlongs to 2 miles, setting records at both distances. Trained by Jim Cummings and purchased by the Lee brothers after his debut two-year-old win, Comic Court won four of his remaining starts for the season, including the VRC Ascot Vale Stakes. As a three-year-old he achieved major success in Melbourne with wins in the Victoria Derby and VRC St Leger. In his four-year-old season he won eight races from 14 starts, including the Memsie, Caulfield, Craiglee, Turnbull, Mackinnon and Alister Clark Stakes. His five-year-old season brought his greatest triumphs, with 10 wins from 16 starts. Despite winning a number of lead-up races to the Melbourne Cup, including the Caulfield, Memsie, Turnbull and Mackinnon Stakes, he was relatively unfavoured for the Cup, and his regular jockey Jack Purtell, opted to ride Alister, winner of the AJC and Victoria Derbies. With Pat Glennon in the saddle, Comic Court went to the front a mile from home and stormed to victory by three lengths in the Australian record time of 3min 19.5 seconds for the two miles. After a short spell Comic Court returned to racing in the 6 furlong William Reid Stakes, winning in a track record time which stood for the next 18 years. When he was retired to stud in 1951, Comic Court had amassed 28 wins and 15 placings from 54 starts, and winnings of ₤48,576. - 5 - William “Bill” Whittaker Bill Whittaker was one of racing’s most influential journalists for more than 40 years. His knowledge of thoroughbred racing and the excellence of his writing earned him the admiration and respect of his peers and the public alike. He was equally at home in writing about harness racing, which was his other sporting passion Bill Whittaker’s early years were spent in a small town on the Atherton Tablelands. His enthusiasm for racing was kindled by his father who took him to the track from the age of four.