‘Quirky bugger’ finds his stride with Moss family

Victorian harness racing couple Debra and Geoff Moss seem to have found the key to their “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” trotter Jakarta (Andover Hall).

“He’s got tonnes of ability, but you just can’t upset him.  He’s not nasty, he’s a joy to handle, but he just goes into panic mode when he’s not sure what you’re wanting,” Debra Wicks-Moss explained of the eight-year-old gelding’s checkered history.

But Jakarta hasn’t put a foot wrong at the races since joining the Moss stable, based at Grenville south of Ballarat. Two thirds and a creditable fifth were followed by two consecutive wins at Melton (Jan 10) and Cranbourne (Jan 26), all in the hands of Parwan reinswoman Jodi Quinlan.

“Mark (Darragh) and Rick (Moran) have had horses with us for years and saw Jakarta for sale on Trading Ring in October,” Debra said.

“They had been looking for a trotter for a while, so I told them if we could sort out his issues, we will have a lot of fun!  But we really didn’t need another horse!” she said

“I’d been out of action for nearly 12 months waiting for a hip replacement and Greg’s had some knee problems and is legally blind from a truck accident. He was doing what he could, but we had seven or eight horses and most of the work was falling on our daughter Donna, who also has a full time job and was doing huge days.

“She loves her horses and she’s a great worker, but ‘lost it’ when she found out what I’d done! I think she’s forgiven us now!”

Debra said it wasn’t a simple matter to sort out Jakarta’s issues.

“Donna did some acupuncture and muscle release therapy on him and found he was sore along the back, chest and neck, and we’ve got a 680 metre track with a hill, so we started doing long miles with him rather than speed work.

“We also tried changing his gear, but it seemed like the more we put on the angrier he got – so in the end we got back to keeping things simple, just a Murphy Blind, his head nice and low, a leather-covered snaffle bit and a chin rest.

First up, Jakarta went to Geelong and finished third in a heat of the Lang Memorial, then third in the final, and ran an eye-catching fifth at Melton, before his two wins.

“Jodi came back after that first run and told us not to change a thing.  He is a real quirky bugger, and Jodi is such a wonderful horsewoman – she just goes with him and lets him do his thing and everyone’s happy!” Debra said.

“When you have a quality driver you leave the driving to them.  I’m still a nervous wreck watching him but he’s been really good.  I dare say down the track he will have his moments but so far, he hasn’t done anything wrong at all.”

Debra said she came from a family with no background in harness racing.

“But mum and dad bought me a Shetland pony when I was six.  Mum always told me the first sentence I said was that I ‘wanted a horse!’” Debra said.

“When I was 16 my family started a local pony club and Vince Munday, who is the grandfather of (NSW trainer) Trevor Munday brought his kids along – before we knew it, he’d convinced mum and dad to buy Adio Pronto, our first horse, which I ended up taking out my trainer’s licence to train.

“I worked for Ray White for years at Bankstown when he had about 30 horses in work. Every so often I’d get sick of the lack of money and go and work in an office for a while – but I’d always gravitate back to the stables.

“Greg was a trainer and we met at Maitland trots and we’ve been married 45 years, with three children, Donna, Neil and Kristy.”

Debra and Greg have trained a number of nice horses over the years, including Jeremy Gem, Hangin There and Hershey, and elected to move south in 2006 after Greg’s accident left him unable to work.

“It was hard to leave family and friends, but we just made a decision that if we wanted to stay in harness racing that’s what we would have to do.  So we found this place we ciykd own outright at Grenville (near Ballarat) and it’s worked out perfect for us,” she said.

“Donna is involved with the horses and Neil has had trotters over the years but loves his cars more these days.  Kristy is our miracle baby and keeps us all going – she was born 16 weeks premature and is 39 now and still lives at home here.  She has a degree in social science and a degree in psychology – but it’s horses that are her passion.

“Even with the state of the industry at the moment, we don’t regret moving for a moment.  We love it and love Victoria and the people.  I’m getting back to doing more now and hopefully some more surgery for Greg this year will improve his mobility.

“Things are looking up and Jakarta is bringing us a lot of joy.  Last year was a pretty rough one so this horse coming into our lives has given us a real lift.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink