Bloxsome’s help leads to start in harness racing

It wasn’t that long ago that Peter Bloxsome had never stepped foot on a trotting track, but when his mate Ray Jones called him around to help him load a horse on the float by the name of Lavra Joe, it wasn’t long until he had the bug, which quickly turned into Peter owning nine horses of his own.

Forming an association with Ray Jones, Bloxsome was soon introduced to Shane Young which lead to an opportunity to purchase into a newly broken in yearling that was far from a head turner.

“He (Shane Young) said to me, his father Ron has a little one down there that he’s breaking in for Kevin Charles and said it’s only a small horse, he doesn’t know anything about it and he’s only just breaking it in, but it’s for sale, and he said he would go down and look at it for us.”

That little yearling turned out to be WA poster girl Wonderful To Fly (Fly Like An Eagle) who has since gone on to win 30 races from just 55 starts, with over $742,000 in stakes (not including the impressive Westbred bonuses on offer for two and three-year-olds.

Wonderful To Fly accumulated over $100,000 in bonuses in her first two seasons of racing.

Bloxsome, who committed to 30% of Wonderful To Fly gave away 20% of his share to his sisters, retaining just 10% for himself, and although most would be under the impression that the wonderful ‘Dallas’ would be his harness racing highlight, it’s Yankie Kev who has given Bloxsome his biggest thrill in the industry.

“The first two years of his career were just a real battle,

“I loved him, but we just couldn’t get him to the track. I knew there was something wrong with him, but I just had no idea what it was,

“I found Simone and Paul (Strachan) who looked after him so kindly and West Coast Vets operated on him, they did a brilliant job on him.”

Battling ulcers, it was a throat issue that was ultimately the issue for Yankie Kev, and after nursing him at home in Bridgetown through his recovery, Bloxsome has since been rewarded with two wins in the past 6 weeks, including a last start win on April 22 at Pinjarra.

“I was talking to Shannon Suvaljko at the races one day and he said Peter, the horse feels like he wants to go but something happens, and he can’t, it wasn’t long after that we found what the issue was and got it resolved, and I spoke to Shannon a few months later and asked him if he thought It was a good idea that I get the operation done,

“And he said what are you going to do? If you don’t do it, you’re just going to have retire him, so Shannon was the biggest reason to turn me around and have a shot at doing it.”

Now involved in 9 horses, whether owning them solely, or just owning a share, Bloxsome certainly has the harness racing bug, and although he usually has a helping hand with picking his horses, Arionrock is one that he’s immensely proud of, purchasing on a whim at the 2022 yearling sales after Ray Jones had to quickly duck away.

“I’m very taken by the yearling sale because it’s a bit of a challenge.

“If you’re lucky and land on the right one it’s an exciting thing, because you can go back to the day you started and picked the horse.”

“It’s not usually me who picks the horse, usually Ray Jones, Simone and Paul (Strachan), Shane Young, it’s usually them that guides me to the horse and I might be the one who puts my hand up but it’s those people behind the scenes,

“I’ve got no ability to see what a good horse is, but I did take a punt with Arionrock and I bought that horse with no guidance whatsoever, and it’s worked, so that’s the excitement for me.”

Arionrock was presented as lot 381 by Allwood Stud and purchased by Bloxsome for $21,000, with the double westbred son of Rock N Roll World now a winner of four races from 22 starts, with $40,536.38 paid out in bonuses.

Theres no end in sight for Bloxsome, with the almost 70-year-old excited to see his newer propositions hit the track, with his involvement spread over numerous stables including Robbie Williams, Aiden De Campo, Simone and Paul Strachan, Merv Jupp and Shane Young.

by Ashleigh Paikos, for RWWA