He’s back after 21-year hiatus

With 175 wins to his credit, former Victorian junior Ray Tatt showed all the polish in the world—now after a 21-year absence from the sport, the lightweight harness racing driver is reigniting his career.

“I don’t plan to get back into it full-time. It will be more of a hobby because I thoroughly enjoy my day job as a team leader with Infrabuild Steel Company,” Tatt, who lives at Lockwood, near Bendigo, said.

“I’m actually still pinching myself as to how it has all come about. To be honest, I have never looked back with a view to one day coming back into it,” he said.

“But I’ve received a huge amount of support and encouragement from a lot of people, so we’ll just have to see how it goes. I’m 45 years old and if I don’t do it now while I’m fit and healthy, I’d probably never do it!”

Tatt said a family holiday in Mildura last Christmas set the ball rolling.

“We drove past the trotting track and our 13-and-a-half-year-old daughter Georgia saw there was a meeting on and out of the blue said she would love to go to the trots,” he said.

“She had never shown a lot of interest in the sport but would sometimes look at the old race photos I had at home from my driving days. So, we thought if it was going to be an interest for her, let’s do it. Later on, we went to a meeting at home in Bendigo and it just stemmed from there.

“That connection with Georgia is my main reason for getting back into it. She’s enjoying it and spends so much time at Kate Hargreaves’ stables, who is just 10 minutes away.”

Tatt landed his first winner in 1997 on his 20th birthday and went on to win two country cups, a Grass Track Championship and a host of features, also finishing second in the Ben Hur on one occasion.

“I fell into harness racing when I left school. I used to go to the trots with dad and pop and we were great friends with Ginger Gleeson who lived where I grew up, at Bacchus Marsh,” Tatt said.

Tatt went on to work for such great trainers as Alan Tubbs, Kevin and Alison Chisholm and Lance Justice, and competed in an elite era of junior and senior driving talent – including the late Gavin Lang, Daryl Douglas, Brian Gath, John Caldow, Chris Alford and Michael Langdon.

“Gavin was at Tubbs’ place, and I used to talk to him and watch his driving closely, so I got tutored very well. It was probably him who taught me the way to read a race then pick your way through.”

Tatt’s last season of driving was in 2000-01.

“I’ve done a lot of things since then, out in the ‘big world’, as they say. Around the time I left the horses I’d grabbed my old man’s old tray truck and was carting freight. I ended up doing some long-distance work and it was good money — and then I met my wife Kylie in Bendigo,” Tatt said.

“Kylie isn’t from a ‘horsey’ background, but I got involved in camp drafting (after leaving harness racing) and she would come and watch. She loves the horses, too, now.”

In addition to their daughter Georgia, the couple have a five-year-old son, Thomas, and Tatt admits he’ll approach the sport this time around with new priorities and perspectives.

“When I started, I’d go anywhere just for one drive because it was a job. But that just won’t be happening now, and I’ll be able to go to night meetings or weekends and public holidays, I suppose,” he said.

“It’s still a bit surreal. I still have a strange feeling out there, sometimes wondering what have I done? Have I got the reflexes, or the nerve…am I past it?!

“Recently I drove in a trial at Maryborough and the last half was run in 55 seconds— and back when I as driving we didn’t break two minutes for a mile a hell of a lot!

“There’s a lot that’s changed, and life and experience does give you some reality checks – but I’m still pretty competitive!  And I hope I make a go of it because I had to buy a new helmet. I decided to get it painted up and it cost me $800,” he laughed.

“But the support from people like Mick Stanley, Kate Hargreaves and her staff, Daryl Douglas, Rod Petroff, Mark Shellie and Mick Bellman has been outstanding.

“I have to do 15 satisfactory trial drives.  I’ve done six, but I’m keen to get going. I’ve inherited the race colors of my late grandfather Phil Archer, so it will mean a lot to me to have those back at the track.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink