There was more than a touch of sentiment around a Terang win for a newly minted father and son harness racing training partnership earlier this week.
Joe Abela and his son Tyrone have trained horses together for nearly 30 years, but always under Joe’s name and the win by their eight-year-old pacer Carmy Dan was their second since formalising their training partnership – the first being Gee Cee Calder at Geelong last month.
“It was nice to get the win down at Terang, because that track in particular holds some special memories for us,” Tyrone said.
āI was thinking as I was driving down there that it was where dad and I got our first real win together (in April 1993).Ā Dad was the trainer, and I was the driver, and it was an unforgettable night,ā he said.
In fact, that night 28 years ago was not just their first win together – it was Joe Abela’s first win after nearly two decades in the sport!
“I always say dad’s involvement in harness racing was an exercise in pure resilience!” Tyrone said.
“Dad came over from Malta in 1973 and, of course, half of the harness racing population in Australia is Maltese. It was almost a given that because he liked horses, that he would get involved through his friends,” he said.
“As they say, once the bug bites, it’s pretty hard to shake off, and for years, dad worked at the Army ordinance factory as a bomb inspector, but was always just pottering around with one horse.
“He’d constantly turn them over, none of them ever any good, and basically work them out of the back yard. In fact, he had a residential block at Altona at one stage and there was a vacant block next door – the horse literally lived in the garage!
“That’s how it started for dad, way before I was even born. It was nearly 20 years before he even had a horse run a place which wasn’t long before we got our first win in 1993! But he loved the sport, and of course I came to love it as well, and was always going to get involved as a teenager.”
Tyrone said the long-awaited maiden Terang win came in his days as a junior driver and was an unforgettable family event.
“It’s funny how things work out, because we had finally bought a mare, our very first ‘proper’ horse that wasn’t a discard or one that had been given to us. She was a trotter and her name was Olympic Idol (Maoris Idol – White Hart Lane (Speed Supreme) and she was the one who gave us that first win,” he said.
“Incredibly, when you look back, she started everything for us. She won nine races herself, but then she was a good broodmare, too. Over the years we have had a great run with all of her descendants and would have had between 30 and 40 wins from her progeny, her grandsons and granddaughters.
“We still race one of her granddaughters now, Madena Sky (Angus Hall – Dreamscape Aurora (Safely Kept) who’s won six for us.”
Tyrone said the Terang win by Carmy Dan (Stonebridge Regal – Shinechanel (Fake Left) was a satisfying one not only for the Abela family, but for a big syndicate of South Australian owners.
“Dan started his racing over there (in 2018) leased by a syndicate that call themselves the ‘Carmy Army’,” Tyrone said.
“They just love the horse – they’ve really stuck by him and they would be as thrilled as we are to see him racing well and to get that win.
“We’ve had a bit of a struggle to get him right, but we’ve been treating him for stomach ulcers this time in and he’s really blossoming. He’s back to the big strong Dan we know and love and racing now around 50 kilograms heavier than he has at any time over the past couple of years.”
Tyrone said the formation of the training partnership with his dad reflected the family-base of the Abela stables team based at Balliang, north of Geelong.
“Dad’s getting older and we wanted to make sure he was safe during COVID and not having to go to all the meetings, so formalising the training partnership seemed the easiest way. He was happy about it, and it just felt right,” Tyrone said.
āWe all dig in.Ā Dadās in charge day to day, mum (Carmen) does all the stuff that doesnāt get any recognition like feeding up, changing rugs and cleaning stables, my wife Lauren is the expenses gatekeeper for the operation!Ā We have Cathrine who is the stable manager and is there full time six days a week doing all the jogging and swim work.Ā I just do the fastwork and go to the races.Ā
“We have as many people involved as horses! But we all do our bit, and if anyone wasn’t there, the whole show would fall apart.”
Watch Carny Dan’s win at Terang last Tuesday:
By Terry Gange for Harnesslink