Fishing for winners and doing okay

Former deep sea shark fisherman, motelier and now harness racing trainer and studmaster Greg Howard has certainly squeezed a lot into his life.

Howard, based at Glencoe midway between Mount Gambier and Millicent in the southeast of South Australia, says it’s now his horses that keep him going in this stage of his life.

“I’ve had a few health issues, but I’m going okay at the moment. I just know each morning that I have to get up and at ’em! I do get tired and have a kip in the afternoons though,” he said.

“I did get pretty crook at one stage. I had to have a triple heart bypass and a valve. Then after I got home, I ended up with pneumonia, had a stroke and then got diagnosed with leukemia,” Howard said.

But with a glass-half-full attitude, Howard doesn’t dwell too much on his problems.

“We’re having a bit of fun with a pacer called Samara Fury (BGs Folly) at the moment and I’m also mucking around with a young one,” he said.

“In the past few months, we’ve had success at Hamilton, Globe Derby in Adelaide and Horsham. He’s the most pleasant horse to have in the stable and he’s looking and feeling good.”

Samara Fury is raced by passionate owner Susan Stopp, who is a grazier with her husband Neville at Keith. The couple make it to almost all of Samara Fury’s race meetings, staying over in motels to make a break of it, unless lambing keeps Keith on the property.

“They got involved when Susan got a mare and it turned out to be an ex-pacer. She wanted to breed a foal by Cullens Hope (Christian Cullen) who I stand at stud so that’s how we got to know her,” Howard said.

“Then Susan got keen to have something go to the races and some other friends of mine, Jason and Terry Glynn, who owned Samara Fury, wanted to move him on to concentrate on some young ones.

“We had a few hiccups at first, but he arrived in A1 condition and the Glynns had him going fine so advice wasn’t far away.”

Apart from Cullens Hope who stands for $500, Howard also has Gotta Go Cullen (Christian Cullen) with a service fee of $800.

“Cullens Hope has a lovely nature, while Gotta Go Cullen, who won $1.4M, is a beautiful looking fellow. I don’t get a lot of mares, but I thoroughly enjoy doing it. We’ve got a little farm on 25 acres, so it works in well,” Howard said.

“My wife Carla and I have a foster son Michael, who was only supposed to be here for six months but it’s now been 15 years. He grew on us! He’s a good kid who helps out on the farm.

“Carla’s a hard worker and has been all her life – when she was only 11, she’d go with her mum and clean the high school every day so when we had a 26-room motel in Mt Gambier, she loved it and couldn’t wait to start work each day.”

Howard, who followed his father and uncle into the crayfish and shark fishing industries, spent more than 30 years at it, and also had a stint working at a cheese factory.

“I ended up giving the fishing away because I was having trouble getting reliable crew in the end. I’d be away for two weeks at a time. The crew didn’t mind short stints, but a fortnight away didn’t sit well,” he said.

“You could make a helluva lot of money back in those days, though. We started off with a 18ft boat with 24 cray pots and would work early mornings off Portland, Port Fairy, Robe and Port MacDonnell.

“Then I had a 60ft steel boat and we’d go to Port Lincoln and around Tasmania doing shark fishing.

“That was exciting. We used lines with clips and also had a three-mile net. But the big white pointers would just rip the nets like a semi-trailer had gone through them.

“We had a few exciting moments with carpet sharks, or Wobbegongs. When you got them on deck, they’d try and grab you and they’re similar to crocodiles with the twisting and rolling.

“I actually miss it though. I’d love to be able to go back out and at it again. There’s more than a few stories that I could tell!” he laughed.

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink