Johannesen remembered as an outstanding horseman

The deeds of Northern Victorian harness racing trainer Graeme Johannesen and his superstar trotter True Roman are being fondly remembered after Johannesen’s passing last week, aged 83.

Johannesen, based at Elmore, north of Bendigo, was an astute and intuitive horseman who trained more than 600 winners, and was a household name in the 1980s and ‘90s for his deeds with hall-of-famer True Roman.

“It’s a fact, you don’t even look for another True Roman. He’s a once in a lifetime horse,” Johannesen said in a 2014 Bendigo Advertiser interview, to mark his horse’s induction into the hall of fame.

Johannesen established himself as a professional trainer at Sebastian, and his record shows 600 wins and 1018 placings from 3777 starters ($2.3 million in stakes) during a career spanning many years.

Among Johannsen’s better horses were inaugural Redwood winner Young Trouper (12 wins), Hokum (18 wins), Aim First (39 wins), Marching Order (21 wins including the SA Derby), Fighting Harada (Victorian Sires Stakes winner), Druid (Leeton MIA Breeders Plate), Polka Lass (8 wins) and Tam Oshanter (14 wins).

But without a doubt it was True Roman that captured the public’s imagination.

Australasia’s premier trotter in the 1980s, True Roman won 73 races from 135 starts, including the 1988 Inter-Dominion Championship and every other classic trotting race on the calendar.

“If I knew exactly what makes a champion, I would have had more than one,’’ Johannesen told the Advertiser.

“This horse was so strong, he had unbelievable strength.  He was a great chaser. One night we took him to Kapunda in South Australia for a marathon race.

“He paced away that night and when we clocked him he was 13 seconds behind the leader. He still got up and won. It was an unbelievable run.”

True Roman raced every season from his 2yo year right through to age 10, with 62 of his career wins with the late, great Gavin Lang in the sulky.  True Roman held the record for the most wins at one track (Moonee Valley) until 2022, when Bernie Winkel took the record for his exploits at Mildura.

Although Johannesen only rarely drove True Roman in races, it was fitting that he was aboard for True Roman’s 73^rd and final victory at Moonee Valley in January 1992.

“He raced against the best every year he raced. From a two-year-old right through he raced in classic races,” Johannesen said.

“We never pushed him as a young horse though. He only had four starts as a two-year-old and won two of them,” he said.

“As a three-year-old he had 10 starts and won eight, but then as a four-year-old we left him out for the entire spring because he was getting hard handicaps against older horses.

“We didn’t want to run him into the ground. That helped him as an older horse.

“I always promised myself that I wouldn’t run him off hopeless marks against ordinary horses. He was too good a horse to do that to.”

True Roman retired in 1992, and lived out his years, until age 34, on the Johannesen property at Elmore.

Graeme Johannesen passed away suddenly after a long-term illness last Tuesday, February 6.  A friend and mentor to many and the partner of Jenny for many years.

His funeral will be at Mulqueen’s 15-25 Bridge St, Bendigo, at 2pm Monday, February 19.

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink