PODCAST · sports
John Tapp Racing
by The Supernova Tribe
John Tapp interviews the people who make racing tick.
Episodes
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Episode 597: Bill Charles - 31 years in racing administration, and 17 years as Bart Cummings’ right hand man.
Had Billy Charles elected to stay in his very first job with the National Bank he would have soon been up to his knees in carpet in the CEO’s office. But, as much as he enjoyed the challenge the eighteen year old couldn’t shake the unrelenting urge to seek employment in the racing industry. He...
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Episode 596: Craig Sant - Born into a trotting family but race calling was his dream. He’s now the voice of “top end” racing.
Sky Racing’s Greg Radley spends time with Craig Sant at Darwin Cup time each year. He called me after this year’s NT carnival with a strong suggestion that we should invite Craig onto the podcast. We put the wheels in motion and Craig is our special guest this week. The 57 year old son of former...
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Episode 595: Tony McEvoy - From a Streaky Bay apprenticeship to a Melbourne Cup triumph with many golden moments in between.
As a youngster Tony McEvoy looked forward to a long career as a jockey. As it turned out he was just 19 when increasing weight put an end to that dream, but not before he’d topped a century of wins. His talents in the saddle and devotion to duty saw him rewarded with two amazing opportunities at…
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Episode 594: Jason "Stubby" Holder - Adelaide riding legend wins fourth metro premiership at age 50.
Youngest jockey to win a metropolitan premiership in Australia last season was Tasmania’s 27 year old Erica Byrne Burke. Second youngest was 29 year old Ben Thompson who was dominant in winning the Brisbane title. 34 year old James McDonald predictably won the Sydney honours, while 40 year old...
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Episode 593: Shane Green - Racing's "Mr. Versatile"
It was champion jockey Kerrin McEvoy who strongly recommended Shane Green as a potential podcast guest. The two became friends when Shane was working for the Darley organisation and Kerrin was under retainer as stable jockey. It’s taken a while to make it happen, but we have the ever versatile…
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Episode 592: Koby Jennings - Tall and talented jockey tries something different during a break from race riding. He’s back in his native Traralgon.
A calm and composed riding technique with a demeanour to match, are the attributes that have endeared Koby Jennings to many trainers in his fifteen year career. After spending the latter part of his apprenticeship in Sydney the heavyweight rider joined the fully fledged ranks knowing his...
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Episode 591: Katelyn McDonald - Former successful race rider, mother of two, television presenter and wife to one of the world’s most in-demand jockeys.
I couldn’t believe Katelyn McDonald had actually found the time to join the podcast until we were five minutes into the interview. As it turned out she took more than an hour out of her hectic schedule to cover a wide range of subjects. From a celebrated family of Victorian jockeys Katelyn…
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Episode 590: Shannen Llewellyn - The gifted young jockey who taught herself to ride on a slow harness horse
Activities like pony club, showjumping and eventing were not on Shannen Llewelleyn’s radar during her teen years on the NSW Central Coast. That’s not to say she didn’t like horses. In fact the idea of buying herself a suitable steed one day had crossed her mind more than once. A job at a local...
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Episode 589: John Sadler- Few Australian horsemen have had a more diverse career within the training sphere.
John Sadler’s coming up 72 next birthday and can look back on a fascinating career. He’s possibly more content currently than he’s ever been, working a team of just thirty horses at the widely lauded Pakenham training centre. Half the team are pre-trainers for good friends, the other half...
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Episode 588: Brett Dodson - Coffs Harbour trainer whose love of racing was sparked by radio and TV broadcasts and famous 1980’s magazines.
Few trainers have had a busier week than Brett Dodson. He left Coffs Harbour on Thursday July 9th with his bonny mare Petticoat who was to start in a BM78 at Randwick two days later. It was a case of so near but yet so far as Petticoat went down by a whisker to Zouripper. As soon as Petticoat was...
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Episode 587: Samantha McGuren - Hard working mother-of-two making a name for herself in the northern rivers training ranks.
Almost without exception successful horse trainers are hard workers. There’s a 35 year old Grafton based Mum who’s in accord with the quote made famous by former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who said “hard work won’t always get you to the top but with ordinary luck will get you pretty…
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Episode 586: Bob Vance - Star NZ jockey of the 80’s and 90’s now training successfully in partnership with wife Jenny.
Bob and Jenny Vance train a very small team at Ardmore in Auckland but boast a healthy strike rate with a Gr 1 win already on the board. I have vivid recollections of Bob winning the 1993 W.S Cox Plate on The Phantom Chance- the first of five Cox Plates I got to call for the Nine Network. Just...
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Episode 585: Glynn Pretty - The South Australian jockey described by Bart Cummings in the 1960’s as the best horseman to ride for his stable.
When an Adelaide podcast listener contacted me recently about a potential interview with Glynn Pretty, I couldn’t get things under way quickly enough. In the 60’s and 70’s this man’s reputation was as solid as any top jockey in the nation. He spent a lot of time out of Australia fulfilling...
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Episode 584: Michael Wrona - Queensland race caller who dared to dream in 1990 still going strong in USA racing.
I get regular enquiries about the current whereabouts and activities of Michael Wrona, the young Queensland race caller I got to introduce to American horse racing thirty six years ago.The now defunct Hollywood Park Race Club was anxious to try out the Australian style of race calling on the big…
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Episode 583: Brad Rawiller - A Doomben $10,000 win on a mount he didn’t see coming. He and Rothfire have a lot in common.
You don’t see too many $61.00 “pops” generating ovations like the one Rothfire and Brad Rawiller got after the recent Doomben $10,000. The horse all but written off when he broke down almost six years ago, and the tough-as-teak veteran jockey served up a fairy tale story in winning the famous...
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Episode 582: Simon Price - South Australia has produced a long line of top jockeys. Simon Price is high on the list.
Simon Price hasn’t ridden in a race for five years but still spends plenty of time in the saddle. He’s at Morphettville trackwork three mornings a week, and has a regular presence at the barrier trials and jumpouts. With sons Will and Ben both forging successful riding careers in Adelaide, Price...
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Episode 581: Coriah Keatings - One of the new wave of gifted Australian female jockeys
The girls have had an extraordinary impact on Australian racing in recent years. A current emerging talent is twenty five year old Coriah Keatings who just recently won her first race at black type level. Coriah, apprenticed to Nick Olive at Canberra has a very impressive 135 wins on the board...
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Episode 580: Andrew Gluyas - Adelaide trainer continues on where his tutor Leon Macdonald left off.
Andrew Gluyas had a huge pair of shoes to fill in July of 2023 when he took over the running of French Cotton Lodge at Morphettville. The stables had been home base to legendary trainer Leon Macdonald for more than four decades. Andrew had been married to Leon’s daughter for five years when he…
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Episode 579: A Tribute to Tobin Bronze- A THOROUGHBRED SUPERSTAR OF THE 1960’S. TALENTED, VERSATILE AND AS TOUGH AS NAILS.
Please forgive my deviation from our usual interview format but the discovery of some very old broadcast tapes has set me upon a sentimental journey and rekindled memories I’d like to share with you. The centuries old proverb “handsome is as handsome does” has never been better exemplified than…
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Episode 578: David Taggart
I was thrilled to meet David Taggart for the first time at the recent Sydney premiere of the “J.Mac Story”. Like many Aussie racing fans I was well acquainted with his story. The story of a distinguished riding career being abruptly halted in 2007 by a freakish fall at Stony Creek- a career which...
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Episode 577: Justin Sheehan - The heavyweight jockey whose enforced retirement cut a brilliant career far too short.
The first bloke to give me a wrap for the talents of Justin Sheehan was John O’Shea. It was 2000 and John’s solo training career had just begun at Warwick Farm. Sheehan was then 28 and although struggling with weight issues, was quickly establishing himself with some very discerning trainers....
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Episode 576: Col Hodges OAM - Broadcasting legend missing in action after home accident.
Col Hodges’ absence from western districts race meetings of late has been a talking point among his legion of friends. It’s taken a nasty fall and a fractured hip socket to keep him away from the races after fifty six years behind the binoculars. He’s not feeling quite well enough to handle an...
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Episode 575: Brett Robb - Learned about horses from his Dad and got his sense of humour from a lifetime in the bush.
Brett Robb made the call to go solo as a trainer when his father Rodney decided to cut his team back to five horses in 2020. He’d been working as stable foreman for Rodney for a number of years, and was happy to continue in that role. Rod’s decision prompted Brett to bite the bullet, and launch…
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Episode 574: Jett Newman - Talented apprentice has topped 100 wins in just thirteen months of race riding.
Eighteen year old apprentice Jett Newman had a huge number of trial rides before being signed up by northern rivers trainer Matt Dunn. She debuted in February 2025 with two rides for her boss at a Murwillumbah meeting. The first one ran second, the other Without Parallel led all the way to win.…
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Episode 573: Gratz Vella - His Golden Slipper placing with Music Time triggered requests for a podcast. We’ve got him this week.
I’ve had several emails requesting a podcast with Gratz Vella in the wake of his thrilling third placing in the TAB Golden Slipper with Music Time. The Maltese born trainer drifted into the racing game by pure chance and has held a licence for more than three decades. He’s enjoyed a notable…
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Episode 572: Kris Lees
Kris Lees was thirty three years old when his father Max passed away in 2003. He’d been training a handful of horses in his own right while working as stable foreman for his very respected trainer/dad. He was left reeling when a sudden illness claimed Max’s life at just 63 years of age. Kris made...
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Episode 571: Bernie Howlett - The horseman who rode, trained and bred Group 1 winners
With another edition of the historic Sydney Cup coming up on April 11th, it seems an appropriate time to catch up with a man who won it twice as a jockey in 1959 and 1961. Bernie Howlett’s riding career lasted only seven or eight years but was followed by a long innings as a successful trainer.…
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Episode 570: Scott Darby - Founder and Managing Director of syndication leaders Darby Racing
It’s just over six years since Scott Darby last appeared on our podcast. At the time his popular racehorse syndication company was gathering momentum. Today Darby Racing is a front runner in a very tough business. Seventeen and a half years after its launch, the company looks back on 1500 wins by...
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Episode 569: Blake Spriggs - One year on from life threatening Moruya race fall
Blake Spriggs answered immediately when I tried his mobile number one day last week. What a delight it was to hear such clarity, sparkle and fluency in the voice of a man who this time last year had his Doctors gravely concerned. Medical professionals who played even the smallest part in the…
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Episode 568: Jane Clement
This week we catch up with another member of the “bush trainer brigade” - those remarkable people who continue to bring the very best out of horses of limited ability while paying just as much for chaff, oats and associated supplements as their city counterparts. This week’s podcast guest…
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Episode 567: Richard Litt
Richard Litt’s entry into the Sydney training ranks materialised under very sad circumstances. He’d barely settled into a training partnership at Warwick Farm with his father Jim when news came from NZ of the premature death of his older brother Jay. Jim Litt made an immediate decision to return…
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Episode 566: Neil Rae - Former multiple premiership winner now riding the big machines.
Former champion jockey Wayne Harris speaks glowingly of his former “stablemate” Neil Rae. Both were apprenticed to the late Pat Farrell, and while Harris concentrated on metropolitan racing for most of his career Rae opted to stay in the Hunter region where he enjoyed a productive 23 years-...
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Episode 565: Kerrin McEvoy - Champion international jockey will be back from injury for the autumn carnival.
The enormous genetic influences in Kerrin McEvoy’s background were obvious from a tender age. In fact the native of Streaky Bay on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, wanted to do nothing else but ride racehorses from age 9 or 10. Initially apprenticed to grandfather Bill Holland, Kerrin had a…
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Episode 564: Ashlee Grives (nee Siejka)- Former top harness horse trainer/driver and gallops trainer transitioning into equine rehabilitation.
Ashlee Grives nee Siejka left a big imprint on the NSW race driving scene with an impressive tally of 800 winners. She trained many of them in her own right. In more recent years Ash has dabbled in the training of thoroughbreds largely with online purchases. It’s well documented that she has won…
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Episode 563: Lee Magorrian - From County Meath to a NZ scholarship and a stint with the Waller stable. Irish jockey is in Sydney for keeps.
Lee Magorrian had never been on a horse’s back when he got a stablehand’s job with Joe Byrne in his native County Meath in 2009. He continued to work on the ground when he later transferred to legendary horsewoman Joanna Morgan. Lee’s life took an unexpected twist when he was encouraged by a…
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Episode 562: Terry Robinson- Master Standardbred and Thoroughbred Horseman Hints at Retirement
With his team of gallopers now in single digits, Terry Robinson has few city runners these days. It seems like yesterday when he and a handful of fellow trainers were dominating the TAB Highway races on Sydney tracks. So great was Terry’s win rate in the first few years that he still occupies...
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Episode 561: Paddy Cunningham
It’s been a pleasure to welcome a sequence of popular country trainers to the podcast lately and we’re going “bush” again in our first interview for 2026. Our guest is respected horseman Paddy Cunningham who’s currently the only trainer based at the Glen Innes racecourse in the NSW New England...
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Episode 560: Allan Gainey - Remembering Hyperion Thoroughbreds
Great to chat with a man who co-founded Hyperion Thoroughbreds, one of the very earliest racehorse syndication companies in Australia. We find out what Allan’s been doing since a crippling recession brought Hyperion’s operation to a halt in 1990. Allan takes us back to his childhood in Gravesend...
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Episode 559: Dar Lunn - Successful country jockey turned trainer who’s in racing for the long haul.
It’s always a pleasure to talk to a dedicated bush trainer from any part of the nation. This week we go to the busy training hub at Dubbo and to one of its most respected participants. Dar (that’s his official christian name) was one of a family of jockeys from the tiny village of Carinda in the...
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Episode 558: Ray Thomas- Daily Telegraph Racing Editor bows out after distinguished 35 year career
Ray Thomas’ recent decision to quit his high pressure role triggered a flood of tributes for the hugely popular media identity. Ray’s many fans were pleased to learn he’ll still be appearing on Sky Thoroughbred Central programmes “This Week Next Week” and “News Central” and intends to continue…
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Episode 557: John Berger - 91 year old former bush trainer takes us back to a great era in northern NSW country racing.
My thanks to Luke Berger who suggested we should take a trip down memory lane with his grandfather John, who’s remembered as one of the best country trainers of his generation. The veteran was in his early 80’s when he relinquished his licence in 2014, but spent another five years helping out on...
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Episode 556: Clint Lundholm
Clint Lundholm stands 182 cm and weighs in at 80kgs, but continues to ride regular trackwork at Dubbo. It’s hard to believe the same bloke was a professional jockey for close to three years in which time he posted 218 wins including a handful of country Cup successes. An eighteen month stint...
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Episode 555: Braith Nock
Racing’s best judges were predicting a big future for Braith Nock long before he ever rode in a race. How right they were! The third generation jockey won at his first ever race ride, and hasn’t stopped riding winners since. Braith made a huge statement last season when he became champion Sydney...
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Episode 554: Alan 'Pup' Cowie
It’s a great pleasure to welcome to the podcast former jockey Alan Cowie, currently one of Australia’s best known jockey managers. If you call him Alan you’ll be lucky to get a response- if you call him Pup you’ll get an instant reaction. That’s the nickname given him by a friend in Rockhampton...
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Episode 553: Craig Widdison
Many young people born into racing families develop an affinity with horses from a very early age. Not the case with Craig Widdison. Despite the fact that his father Col had ridden and trained successfully, young Craig didn’t want to know about the sleek thoroughbreds that had dominated his early...
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Episode 552: Stephen Lee - Loves to be beside the seaside
It's always a pleasure to welcome a bush trainer to the podcast. Our guest this week is Stephen Lee who chips away diligently from his Ballina base season after season with consistent results. He’s currently ably assisted by son Jordan with whom he’ll soon form an official partnership. Lee has...
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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…
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Episode 550: Mitchell Bell - The Travelling Man
Mitchell Bell is one of several Sydney based jockeys who regularly ply their trade on outside tracks. His manager Shaun Flaherty makes a point of committing Mitch to race meetings no further than three hours from his Windsor home. The hard working jockey is a regular at places like Scone,...
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Episode 549: Clare Lindop
Although there wasn’t a trace of racing in Clare Lindop’s family background, the little girl from Warrnambool was hellbent on becoming a jockey from age 10. Her parents finally relented and bought their youngest daughter a pony called Annie- the pony destined to teach her young companion the...
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Episode 548: Cameron Crockett
Young trainer Cameron Crockett completely dominated the recent Dubbo Cup programme with three wins and one dead heat on the ten race programme- easily his best day since going solo as a trainer in 2011. To say he was born to be a trainer is probably a misnomer, because he showed little interest…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
John Tapp interviews the people who make racing tick.
HOSTED BY
The Supernova Tribe
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John Tapp Racing currently has 600 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
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John Tapp interviews the people who make racing tick.
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