Long friendship brings a fairytale result

Country Victorian harness racing trainer-driver Daryl Prosser hasn’t had many opportunities in the sulky this year and after a close friend gave him the chance to take the reins, it had a fairytale result.

When veteran Geelong horseman Bob Kuchenmeister was given a holiday courtesy of stewards, he asked the Wimmera-based Prosser to handle square gaiter Dicko Dixon (Lawman USA) at Melton, 300 kilometers away.

“Bob was thinking I might not take up the offer with the distance we’d have to travel, but when I found out what day it was, I said I might be able to take the drive,” Prosser said.

“It all fell into place perfectly because the next day a flight to Queensland had been booked where two daughters live with the grandkids.

“I honestly haven’t had that many drives this year (records show just two) and to get the win for Bob was good for him and me – it’s nice to know I’ve still got it!” he laughed.

Prosser and Dicko Dixon took out the Allied Express Trot at Melton on August 9.

“I knew he had good gate speed so from the pole we had to try and hold up. There was a bit of early pressure, but then we got a quiet quarter,” Prosser said.

“I had to keep as much up my sleeve as I could cos you don’t get paid on times you run! He’s a nice trotter and it was the first time I’d driven him—and it was my very first victory at Melton.”

Dicko Dixon won by 3.4m from Mista Walker (Greg Sugars) with Tension Seeker (Scott Torney) a few meters back in third spot. The mile rate was 2.01-4.

“I lived around the Geelong area for most of my life and became great mates with Bob – we’ve been up at Minyip for the past four years, but we still talk each week on the phone,” Prosser said.

“If we were still living in Geelong, I’d be helping Bob at meetings whenever I could. He’s a very astute farrier so I ring him a bit with all my problems. I’ve been doing our horses myself because it’s so hard to get a farrier where we live.

“Dick Lee, who is a legend of the sport, bred the horse and races him with a few others. He sent me a congratulations text message the next day which was nice.

“I’ve now driven two winners for Bob. The first one was at Ballarat a few years ago but we ended up with that one by default when the winner returned a positive swab about six months later.”

Prosser said his interest in harness racing went back to his school years when as a 15 or 16-year-old one of his best friends was Graham West.

“We played sport and Graham’s dad Jimmy trained a few horses with Ginger Gleeson’s dad George,” he said.

“Nearly every Saturday night we’d go to the trots at the Showgrounds. Some nights the crowd was so big you couldn’t move.

“I can still remember the first time I sat in a jog cart behind a horse. There was a heap of trainers like Graham Lee, the McLeans and others who would go to Steadman’s’ on the Maribyrnong River to work their horses.

“We’d go down Epsom Road and I’d usually hitch a ride and sit on the side of a sulky—none of them would be wearing helmets.

“One day some bloke sung out to me and asked if I could sit in his cart behind a horse. Well, it was just like Heaven, and I got bitten by the bug from that day.

“When I was living in St Albans, I got to know David Gleeson (Ginger’s brother) and I’d help him out.

“Later I went to teachers’ college, but in that era, there was a glut so when I graduated, I did emergency teaching for a bit. After that I just got job after job. In the end I drove the school bus around Bannockburn for 10 years and did charter work as well.

“That was one of the best jobs I’d had because it gave me time to do the horses. We don’t train too many these days, but my partner Judy is a great help. We work as a team.

“It’s been hard since we shifted to our present property. Firstly, there was COVID, then the wettest winter and last year heaps of flooding which saw our paddocks and track go under.

“I enjoy working them along the quiet country roads, but when they did them up after all the floodwaters, they are too hard.”

Prosser said he hadn’t yet ordered a race winning photograph from Melton, but it was near the top of his to-do list.

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink