Episode 483: Ken Callaughan

Whenever Ken Callaughan brought a horse to town from his country base, bookies were wary and punters had a very good look at the animal’s credentials. Ken’s success rate on metropolitan tracks was consistent over many years. We gave him a call recently and the veteran horseman accepted our invitation to join us on the podcast. Ken talks about the horse transport business he launched after quitting the training ranks.  He says much of his work is generated by Goulburn trainers who like to run horses in the weekly TAB Highway races. Ken talks about his early years in the tiny village of Delegate near the Victorian border. He says his father George was a tough taskmaster when giving his son riding tuition. Ken pays tribute to his late brother Brian. He looks back on his first trip to an Inglis Tried Horse Sale. He came away with the unraced gelding who would launch his training career. Ken acknowledges some of his very early winners. He remembers Stormy Guest who was showing great promise before he suffered a career ending injury in a track gallop. At this point of the interview Ken pays a heartfelt tribute to former outstanding jockey Don Terry whose career was terminated by a Grafton race fall more than twenty years ago. They are still in regular contact. The former trainer looks back on his years at Capricorn Park, a 500 acre property near Canberra from which he trained many winners. All of his trackwork was done at home. For many years Ken combined horse training with the breaking of yearlings. One of his regular clients was owner/breeder Sandy Tait. He talks of the Nassipour colt who gave him many a headache during the breaking in process. He acknowledges the talents of some of the best horses he got to train in a forty year career. Ken talks of the well known horsemen to come through the system at Capricorn Park. He says wife Margaret was an outstanding trackwork rider in the early days of his training career. He makes special mention of daughter Fiona and son Peter. Fiona does most of the driving in his transport business. A special group of country horse trainers have gained legendary status in NSW racing. Ken Callaughan is one of them.