All is forgiven Ronnie, and just in time!

It’s fair to say that Victorian harness racing identity Pat Attard and his stable favorite Rocknroll Ronnie (Always A Virgin) have had their “moments” over the past 12 months but the pacer more than redeemed himself with a boilover 100/1 win in the fast class feature at Mildura last Friday (Jul. 8).

The pair shot to fame on social media last week with a video of their final pre-race hitout – with Attard animatedly remonstrating with “Ronnie” to “concentrate”!

But that was only a minor disagreement compared to their altercation of a few weeks earlier which will result in Attard heading for surgery on Thursday (Jul. 14).

“I’d just picked up his foot to look at a shoe and somehow he managed to stand on my foot, then not only that he pushed me over with his shoulder,” Attard said.

“I can laugh about it now, but he knocked me down flat on my back and still had his foot on my toe – I couldn’t get up so I just had to yell for someone to come and push him off.

“It could have been a lot worse, so I was pretty lucky. He’s actually a really lovely horse, nice to handle, but they can all get you into trouble if you’re not careful.

“The toe’s been a bit of a problem since and the doctors have decided to take it off on Thursday, so Ronnie’s win came just in time – I love him again now and did give him a kiss after the race!” Attard laughed.

Pat and his daughter, trainer Kate are based at Red Cliffs, just outside Mildura, with Kate’s partner Matt Keam and her daughter Charli sharing the load of their 11-horse team.

Returning the problem-plagued former metropolitan class pacer to racing has been a reward for their patience. Formerly trained by Emma Stewart, Rocknroll Ronnie recorded nine wins from his first 20 starts, but spent 18 months away from the track due to complications after gelding and ongoing hoof issues.

“He was virtually retired, but Warren (Stewart) thought he would be worth another try and offered him to us,” Kate said.

“We’ve had him for probably nearly a year. He’s been a long project and even now we race him in a round shoe because of the quarter cracks he’s had in his hoof,” she said.

“We love him though and just so proud of what he did the other night. Hopefully he can keep improving from here.”

The Attards and are unashamedly passionate about their horses and harness racing.

“My family came out from Malta and settled in Broken Hill when I was about seven and I just always loved them,” Pat said.

“We lived next door to a place that did trail rides and I was fascinated by the horses, but terrified at the same time. I nagged my mum about patting them and one day I remember her somehow catching one for me, but then I was too scared to touch it!” he said.

“When I was 18, my brother-in-law had a horse and I got involved and got my own licence to train and drive when I was in my 20s.”

Attard said his first horse was probably still the best he’d ever had.

“He was called Sheffield Court and I had to rent a float to be able to go and pick him up at Murray Bridge after I bought him,” Attard said.

“I didn’t know anything about anything then, but he won 21 at Broken Hill for me, and then I took him to Adelaide to race at Globe Derby. The stewards wouldn’t let me drive him that first night because I didn’t have a metropolitan ticket which I didn’t even know about.

“He ran fourth, but the stewards back in Broken Hill gave me a metropolitan ticket and I went back and won the next start. The driver who had driven him the previous week was the first to congratulate me.

“I had another nice I bought from the same owner, called Young Caz. He was only around 13 hands high, just tiny, but he had 13 starts for me and won eight, with five seconds. He probably had the best sprint of any horse I’ve ever had.”

These days, Attard senior says he takes the back seat in the training, happy to be stable hand, strapper, farm manager and general workhorse.

But Kate says he’s the backbone of the family operation.

“He’s 75 but he’s the number one worker. He does everything, shoeing, jogger loads, fast work, picking up the poo. He’s always busy and if it’s not the horses he’s doing, he’s slashing or planting paddocks or fixing things around the stables,” she said.

“We’re all hoping that foot heals up quickly, because we’ll be lost without him for the time he’s on the sidelines!”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink