Episode 440: John Powell

John Powell was at a loose end when he returned to Australia in 2021 after calling time on his long riding career in Singapore. It wasn’t long before Racing NSW enlisted his services as a mentor for northern NSW jockeys, and more recently Gary Kliese has snapped him up for a co-hosting role on Sky Thoroughbred Central’s coverage of northern rivers racing. It’s almost forty years since John Powell began his apprenticeship with Helen Page at Warwick Farm. In a 37 year riding career he rode 1400 winners in five jurisdictions, more than half of them in Singapore. We were able to pin him down recently for a lengthy chat about his fascinating journey in racing. John begins by explaining how his opportunity with Sky Thoroughbred Central came up.  He says his main focus is on the characteristics of horses and tactics employed by jockeys. John says he’d barely settled back in Australia when he got a surprise phone call from Corey Brown on behalf of Racing NSW. The former top jockey takes us back to childhood days at Campbelltown and talks about the family friend who introduced him to Helen Page. He recalls his delight when Warwick Farm trainer Frank Bacon gave him his very first race ride.  John hasn’t forgotten his very first winner at Gosford for his boss Helen Page. He admits the ride wasn’t pretty. The chief steward spoke to him on the day about an entirely different matter. He fondly remembers his magical first city winner at Canterbury in 1987. Powell recalls multiple wins on the Guy Walter trained Prince Invader- a very important horse to the young rider in those early days. He has never forgotten a pick-up ride on brilliant sprinter Show County. He got the ride during a jockey’s strike when every runner at a Warwick Farm meeting was ridden  by an apprentice. The recently retired jockey looks back on his affinity with Kembla Grange racecourse. In one season in the late 80’s he was champion Kembla apprentice. He talks of Shane Edmonds, another talented apprentice who was with Helen Page at the same time. John talks about his addiction to diuretics, the demon pills used by many jockeys in days gone by to help them excrete water through the kidneys. Diuretics gave jockeys a simple way of losing weight on race days. They were very dangerous long term. He looks back on several short term contracts in Mauritius- a unique racing environment. John talks of his very successful stint in Macau. It was here a Panamanian jockey helped him to fine tune his riding style. He looks back on some of the outstanding horses he got to ride in Australia including a few of Bart Cummings’ topliners. John talks of his association with John Hawkes which led him to a full season in Brisbane. The champion trainer once entrusted John with a barrier trial ride on champion Octagonal. He still talks about it. He looks back on his appointment as stable jockey for Don Baertshiger in Singapore- a partnership that would last for many years. John says he got away to a “flyer” in Singapore by winning the Gr 1 Derby on Hello And Goodbye. It was Kiwi trainer Bruce Marsh’s first Singapore win. He talks of his first win in the Kranji Mile and a second Singapore Derby. John reflects on a Kranji Mile win for Laurie Laxon and a QE2 Cup success. The former ace jockey talks openly about his cancer scare. The discovery of a lump on his neck during a routine medical check led to further scans. Thyroid cancer was detected. Covid enforced travel restrictions delayed John’s return to Sydney for crucial surgery. He says the thyroid complication sent his weight on a spiral, and he knew his riding days were numbered. John remembers the shock he received to read about his retirement on social media, long before he’d made any announcement. It’s a laid back chat with a talented jockey who spent 25 of his 37 riding years out of Australia.