Episode 437: John Wallace

It was great to catch up with John Wallace recently for the first time in several years. The veteran trainer has a great passion for the racing game, and it shows in his all too rare interviews. We pinned him down recently for a long overdue podcast about a career that started in St George more than 50 years ago. John begins by talking about his recovery from some pretty serious health issues. He talks of the nine horse team he has in work today- a far cry from the huge numbers he was training twenty years ago. He makes special mention of a certain 3YO. John talks about his early life as the son of a publican at Maryborough. He was eight years old when the family moved to another pub 600km away. The veteran trainer says he learned the language of racing from horsemen around the bar at the Metro Hotel. He recalls meeting a young man who was destined to become a very high profile steward in later years. John says he had to put his age up in order to acquire a Queensland trainer’s licence. He got away with it. He clearly recalls training his very first winner at St George and a subsequent move to Dalby. Wallace says he jumped at the opportunity when stables became available in the thriving racing town of Toowoomba. He was there for a long time. He remembers his neighbour, the iconic trainer Jim Atkins. John responds to a question about his uncanny ability to identify talented horses and buy them cheaply early in his career. He says Court Rush was the first of several to come to his notice. He talks of his 1982 Queensland Oaks winner Mother Of Pearl- his first win at the elite level. John looks back on his achievements with other bargain basement buys He pays a special tribute to Mitanni, one of his all time favourites. Twenty wins and twenty six placings. He says you don’t get many like Mitanni in a lifetime. The seventy seven year old rates Dynamic Love as one of the best mares he’s trained. He talks of her three Sydney wins. John says NZ race caller Tony Lee was instrumental in his acquisition of Oompala who’d won only two small races before coming to Queensland. He looks back on a string of Queensland wins by Oompala before finishing third in the Metropolitan at Randwick. John relives the excitement of Melbourne Cup day. For one wild moment he thought Oompala had the big race in the bag.  We reserve plenty of space for John’s reminiscences about Shoot Out a $15,000 Gold Coast purchase. He went on to win seven races with the horse including the Randwick Guineas and the AJC Derby. He sadly recalls the sudden passing of Shoot Out’s regular jockey Stathi Katsidis on the eve of the W.S Cox Plate. He pays a warm tribute to Stathi’s great talent. John looks back on the shattering experience of losing Shoot Out to another stable. The veteran trainer talks of associations with Zac Purton and the late Aaron Kennedy. It’s a laid back chat with a horse trainer from the old school.