‘Broke five times’ – but Rob’s ridden the bumps and had a ball!

Victorian horseman Rob O’Connell admits he’s had a rollercoaster ride in nearly 60 years in harness racing – but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’ve gone broke five times. So then I just had to put my head down, set one up and get going again!” O’Connell said.

“I can honestly say I’ve had a ball. I’ve tried to travel around over the years. I’m a gypsy that’s for sure, but it’s great to get about because you get to meet plenty of great people, and I’ve got to know so many outstanding trainers and drivers.”

O’Connell, 73, who trains out of the Melton property where the late Gavin Lang was based, is showing he still has the Midas touch with four-year-old Cinquanta (Huntsville).

The mare has scored back-to-back wins at Melton (on December 31 and January 18), with the New Year’s Eve victory O’Connell’s first in more than 18 months.

O’Connell was confident that Cinquanta was “a bit of a chance” from the number two barrier in the Garrards Horse and Hound Pace, part of the Young Guns series for invited drivers under 25.

“I really thought the draw and the 1720m trip suited. And the drive by young Liam Older was a gem – he worked it all out perfectly as the race unfolded,” O’Connell said.

While it was his first winner for the season, it was just the ninth time O’Connell had a starter in 2024.

“She started as a $17 chance, but I enjoyed that we picked up the $8000 VicBred bonus too. We scraped in by one hour and 14 minutes!” he laughed.

“Shane and Ryan Sanderson had her for a bit and they did a good job in getting a win out of her. She’s a bad knee knocker and hits her shins but I took her on because I needed a horse to poke around with.”

With hundreds of winners to his name as a trainer and driver, O’Connell followed his father William into the sport, and the family had stables behind a house in Ascot Vale.

“We’d jog along the tram tracks to the Showgrounds because that was the safest place to dodge the cars,” O’Connell laughed.

“There was Les Turner, all the Hobans, Charlie Bell, Peter Wells and quite a few others around there. It was very good socially. I had a lot of help when I was young from Lorraine and the late Bill Duffy. They were very good to me and often took me to the races.”

It was an era when racing – and punting – was part of the social fabric of Melbourne.

“Back then a bookie would let you get a bet on at the trials, and we had a few good wins there!” O’Connell said.

“Even when I was a kid, I used to go to Flemington High School, but each Wednesday I’d jump the back fence and go to the gallops.

“I remember one day this good punter I knew had a winner. They backed it from 66/1 to 7/2! I was wearing a black woollen coat, and they were shoving money everywhere, down my shirt, in all my pockets – that was a great day!”

O’Connell has the distinction of getting winners at the Melbourne Showgrounds, Moonee Valley and Melton and still remembers his first drive – but not fondly!

“I was about 16 and living at Ascot Vale. I got offered a drive at Warragul and I got tipped out and landed on my head, so that didn’t end all that well!” he laughed.

But O’Connell quickly honed his skills, and the winners followed, with Khan’s Thunder (Ghengis Khan) the horse that made O’Connell a household name in the 1990s.

He won 20 races with the entire, including the Listed Classic $70,000 Sires Stake Final for 2YO colts and geldings (1993), and the following season the (G1) Victoria Derby and the Oceania El Dorado Final of $150,000, another listed classic.

Khans Thunder later was crowned the 3yo Horse of the Year.

“Stihletto (17 wins) won the $25,000 Silver Chalice in 2004 and then I was lucky enough to get the $30,000 Cochran Trotters Cup (G2) with Magicool in 2021,” he said.

“Harry Walton was another nice one who won 12 races and Harry’s Lass won 10, along with a horse called Intuitional (10 wins).

“I do miss the driving part. Yes, I enjoyed it a lot. I gave it away when a good mate Zac Phillips started out. I wanted to get him going and give him a push because he drives really well.”

O’Connell has done battle – and enjoyed friendships – with some of the most outstanding reinsmen in Australia. He lists Brian Gath, Ted Demmler and Neville Welsh among the hardest to beat, along with Gordon Rothacker, Graeme and Gavin Lang, Sydney’s Kevin Newman, and Queenslanders Peter Greig and Graham Bowyer.

“I remember when Neville won a Derby at the old Melbourne Showgrounds by hardly going around a horse. Then there was the time Alf Simons won on My Lesson from 110 yards behind,” O’Connell said.

“When I was working for John Glide at Donnybrook, Gordon (Rothacker) would regularly call in and he was a gentleman.”

O’Connell said he became good friends with Neville Walsh and was based at his property for some time.

“I got in with this guy who won quite a bit on the punt, and he said he was going to New Zealand to buy me a nice horse,” O’Connell said.

“Well, he come back with quite a few more than one!  I had nowhere to put them, so I rang Neville and told him the story. He said I’d better go out to his place – and I ended up staying two or three years!”

O’Connell said one of his great experiences was spending three months in Sydney with Kevin Newman, the leading trainer and driver at the time.

“Another terrific trainer up there at that time, John Binskin out at Bankstown, was a genius. Those blokes made a hard job look easy. They knew all the tricks.”

O’Connell said he enjoyed travelling to Queeensland as much as he could.

“They’d let me stay in stables on the track at Albion Park for a few months. We had a bit of luck up there, but one time I was desperate to win a double horse float in a feature at Rocklea, but we just got beat and ran second.”

O’Connell also formed a friendship with Perth trainer Rod Chambers after driving for him at two big Bathurst meetings.

“I won the heat and semi and then Rod took the reins in the final and won. The owner gave me a sling for my wins but forgot about Rod who wasn’t happy!

“Brian Mitton was a great friend over in Adelaide and always willing to give you advice, while another I had a lot of respect for was Trevor Warwick in WA.

“It’s been fun and one hell of a ride, but you never stop learning as you go!”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink