Episode 551: Jessica Owers

Jessica Owers was well established as a feature writer for several respected racing publications before being invited to tackle her first book in 2011. She knew the project would be a long and arduous one. She didn’t expect it to take all of six years. Her much admired “Peter Pan- The True Story Of Phar Lap’s Successor” was not only widely acclaimed but gave its author the incentive to follow up with a similar tribute to another iconic Australian racehorse. Just two years later she brought readers the fascinating story of 1940’s champion Shannon.  It’s taken Jessica twelve years to turn out her third book, and this one is on an entirely different theme. Encouraged by friends at the famous Magic Millions Sales organisation, the talented writer recently completed Magic Millions, The Rise, Fall and Extraordinary Rise Of An Iconic Australian Company. We welcome Jess to our podcast to tell us more about her new book and to share with us recollections of her fascinating journey in journalism thus far. The gifted writer says she was encouraged to tackle the Magic Millions story by a handful of longtime company stalwarts. She explains that most of the people involved in the Magic Millions story are still living, which greatly enhanced her research. The central characters in the Peter Pan and Shannon stories had long passed on. Jessica talks about the impression she gained during research about the late Carl Waugh, the man who first created the Magic Millions concept. She says few realised how close the fledgling company came to receivership in the 1990’s. The author talks of a meeting she had with a Gold Coast developer who owned the Magic Millions company for a couple of years before hitting his own financial crisis. Jess says she also had the pleasure of recording a voice over for the audio version of her new book. She talks of her Irish birthplace and a family relocation to Australia before her first birthday. The mother of two looks back on a return to Ireland at age 10 and a subsequent university degree attained in Scotland. Jess says she headed back to Australia with her new diploma in hand and has never considered leaving the harbour city. She steadfastly declares that her love of thoroughbreds  was triggered by the legend of Phar Lap. Jess looks back on the six year slog required to complete her first book, “Peter Pan- The Forgotten Story Of Phar Lap’s Successor.” She reflects on Peter Pan’s stellar racing career. Jessica explains why she selected 1940’s champion Shannon as the subject of her second thoroughbred biography. She gives a brief outline of Shannon’s distinguished Australian racing career and the “one-off” Inglis sale convened to sell the great horse following the death of his owner and trainer Peter Riddle. The author also looks back on the stallion’s subsequent sale to the US where he won several races before standing at Kentucky’s famous Spendthrift Farm. Jess talks about her freelance roles with several racing platforms including her current contribution to “The Straight”- a recently introduced, subscription based digital publication founded and edited by respected journalist Bren O’Brien. She talks about her Racing Writer Of the Year  nomination at the . 2023 Kennedy Awards. She didn’t win but was deeply touched by the honour. Jess talks about her own love of horse riding and pays a special tribute to Moxie’s Halo- the former racehorse who became her best equine friend. Moxie died much too soon. She talks of the trauma experienced by the whole family when her sister Sonya was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2009.  Her admiration for Sonya’s courage is boundless. Jessica speaks with great affection of the two shining lights in her life- son Julien and daughter Charlotte.