By Duane Ranger
Larger-than-life and ever-positive Queensland harness racing owner and breeder, Tony Michael Veivers, passed away in Brisbane on Monday, December 30.
Mr Veivers, who was 61, succumbed to bowel cancer.
Tony’s only child, Sarah, was with her father at the Wesley Hospital in Auchenflower (4km from downtown Brisbane) to witness her Dad’s last moments on earth. She had been with him arranging and attending medical appointments as well as assisting him with the balancing of his treatments and quality of life since his diagnosis in 2020.
The 35-year-old, who will give birth to Mr Veivers’ first grandchild in June, has now taken over her father’s many ongoing enterprises, including 30-year-old Tony Veivers Pty Ltd Company, a wholesale business of fruit and vegetables based at the Brisbane Markets at Rocklea.
There is also a smaller fruit and vegetable shop on the Sunshine Coast and a 50-acre horse property located 50km west of Brisbane.
Sarah has also inherited approximately 20 of his horses, which includes Group One harness racing top-liners, Not As Promised and Hector, who both won and placed last start at Albion Park and Ballarat on January 18 respectively.
About 200 people gathered at Mr Veivers’ funeral at the Genesis Church in Carrara on Tuesday, January 14.
Long-time friend, and Mr Veivers’ Personal Assistant, Dianne Rees, who oversees all of the company’s financial affairs and accounts, and has done for the last 22 years, was devastated with the loss of her boss.
“Tony was a great friend and awesome man to work for. Not only was he an astute businessman and very generous with it, but he also had a sense of humour like no other.
“We got on like a house on fire. He always loved joking with me, and often termed me his PIA rather than PA, because I kept a tight rein on all of his accounts,” Rees said.
“For the record PIA meant Pain In The Ass,” she added.
Rees said Mr Veivers was diagnosed with cancer in February 2020 and at that time he was given six months to live (without chemotherapy), and 12 months with it.
“He was so determined to beat it and left no stone unturned when it came to sourcing alternative treatments and gaining more knowledge on his disease. He was a fighter right until the end. I visited him in hospital in early December and he was ribbing me with his humour, talking horses and was still very positive.
“Then when I saw him again on December 23, he had lost a lot of weight and I had a feeling that would be the last time I’d see him,” Rees said.
“Thankfully Tony got to spend over a week at home with family at Christmas time before returning to Wesley Hospital on December 28,” she added.
When this writer last spoke to Mr Veivers in November 2023 (https://duanerangerharnessracing.com/tony-veivers-about-to-create-nz-trotting-derby- history/) he had his sights set on creating Australasian harness racing history with his two-time Group One winning champion, Not As Promised.
“I’m laughing cancer in the face,” he exclaimed as he paid up to $30,000 in international return flights to try and become the first Australian owner to win the coveted $110,000 New Zealand Trotting Derby in Christchurch on December 10 of that year.
The now 5-year-old brown Betting Line gelding, who has won 11 of his 19 starts (five placings) and $148,308 in stakes, finished fourth in that Group One feature at Addington Raceway.
But that didn’t faze the then 60-year-old because he had already created harness history becoming the first owner of an Australian trotter to compete in the coveted 80-year-old Group One event.
“That’s a record I’m very proud of. There are plenty more big races to be won and I know I’ve got the horse to do it,” he said.
He was spot on. Not As Promised has won two of his three starts in Australia since then, and will line up a sentimental favourite in the 2025 Inter Dominion Trotting Championship at Albion Park in July.
“I have been in touch with Albion Park and we will be naming and sponsoring a race each year in Tony’s honour. That was one of his requests to me before he died.
Mr Veivers knew all about creating history and winning Group One features.
In October 2023, Not As Promised, became the first Queensland horse to compete in, and then win the 109-year-old Group One $75,000 Victorian Trotters Derby 3yo Final at Maryborough. He is owned by Veivers Purchasers Ltd and was bred by Jess Tubbs, who had the horse for his first six starts. It was Veivers first Group One Victory.
Rees said that even though Mr Veivers was initially a galloping man, who pre-trained and rode thoroughbreds, he later converted to harness racing, and now boasted some really nice standardbreds.
“Andy Gath trains Hector at Long Forest in Victoria. He’s a lovely Group-winning gelding, who has won 14 races ($256,939). He’s also been nominated for the Hunter Cup at Melton on February 1.
“Then there’s Wasa Heat Seeker, who won 11 races ($117,753) before Tony thought he reached his mark and has now been sold to owners in the United States.
“Even right up until the end, Tony was still buying horses from New Zealand. His latest purchase, which hasn’t raced in Australia yet, is a 4-year-old Bettor’s Delight gelding named Bigger the Bettor,” Rees said.
She said Mr Veivers loved having his horses stabled with Graham Dwyer at North Maclean in Queensland. He also hugely admired Nathan Dawson’s driving, and the team bonded a solid friendship over the years. He also has horses that were trained and raced in Adelaide.
Mr Veivers reiterated that in late 2023.
“Graham is an amazing trainer. He’s right up there with the best, yet he trains so many people’s broken-down horses and cast-offs, and then gets them up to win. I have 20 or so horses in Australia, and I only use him or Jack Butler, because I believe they are two of the best trainers in Queensland. Also, Colin Knox, manages my Willowbank 50-acre farm – 45 minutes from the Brisbane CBD – also trains for me.
“As for Nathan, he is the best in Australia and one of the best drivers going around in Australasia currently. He’s driven for me for eight years. His statistics speak for themself. He is a computer in a seat when he gets out there. He’s a thinking driver. Not a leader and take- it-from-there-type. I wouldn’t want to have any other driver in the sulky. Nathan gives our horse extra metres,” Mr Veivers said.
Soon after that praise Mr Veivers spoke personally about his disease.
“The chemotherapy for the structure of my bowel can be pretty severe for the first two days but after that I’m leaping and jumping again. I’ve been told its terminal, but that’s a part of life. I’ve had one mate that was told the same 15 years ago and he’s still with us.
“Even though it’s terminal, it’s a matter of being strong and positive and not allowing this ugly disease to control my life. Having a horse like Not As Promised lifts my spirits, but life is way too short to get down in the dumps.
“I have good people all around me plus the horses. I am in good hands, and not seeking sympathy, just another Group One will do. My daughter, Sarah, is a health scientist at Spring Sciences Australia, on the Sunshine Coast and she looks after my health. She is my rock,” Veivers said.
“I’ve had over 70 goes at chemo at Greenslopes Hospital here in Brisbane where the staff have been fantastic. I’m not alone – over 100 people go there every day for chemotherapy. A couple of days after chemo I’m bouncing and jumping around like in the photo. It’s just the two days enduring the chemo that gets me crook and I don’t like people to see that,” MrVeivers said in November 2023.
Mr Veivers, who undertook hundreds of chemotherapy treatments before his passing, was born in Brisbane and educated at both Marymount College and Mudgeeraba State School.
He is the middle sbling of three children to Ian and Jean. His sisters are Debbie and Sally-Anne. In later years his best friend was his dog, Thomas, but Sarah had always been the “apple of his eye”.
On leaving school Mr Veivers did a bit of labouring work, farmhand jobs and worked in racehorse stables and was mates with Danny Bougoure, who later to became a prolific galloping trainer.
Rees said Mr Veivers started working for his father, Ian, at the Brisbane Markets and in his fruit shops and learnt the trade from him. He went on to own and operate many successful shops of his own and in the mid-990s purchased a 50-acre property at Rosewood, where he decided to escalate his interest in racing, and started breeding his own horses on the property.
She also added that Mr Veivers was a very astute businessman, who would argue over 10 cents, yet at the same time not hesitate to have a punt on a horse.
“Tony was successful because he was a shrewd negotiator and knew how to close out a deal. But I think one of his greatest attributes was that he was such a kind, generous man. He regularly donated to The Rescue Mission, an orphanage in Thailand, and once visited there with Sarah to see the orphanage and how his donations were helping to benefit.
“He helped so many underprivileged Thai kids. I remember he even bought them a much-needed school bus. He had a huge heart,” Rees said.
She remembered his 60th birthday when he requested that all of his friends and family in lieu of presents make a donation to that Thailand Orphanage Rescue Mission for Children.
Other benefactors included the Queensland Police Legacy Child Safety Handbook; the Leukemia Foundation; the Asthma Foundation; the Daffodil Foundation and many other charities.
“There were others. His supermarkets would often sponsor local football and other sporting teams. He had an amazing work ethic which he instilled on his hundreds of employees over the years, but Tony’s kindness and his great sense of humour were his greatest traits,” Rees said.
She said that when her father, Graham Rees, passed away in 2022, Mr Veivers promised to name one of his foals he bred after him because he was so tough. “True to his word, one of his yearlings, born on September 27, 2019 an Art Major foal out of his broodmare, Bobbies Girl was aptly named “Reesy”. She won two of her six starts and placed in two
others before injuring her tendon last February. I’ll never forget her winning by 24.1 metres on debut (December 7, 22) at Redcliffe. ‘Reesy’ is still at Tony’s Willowbank Farm and is in foal to Confederate,” Rees said.
“Tony actually sold me a five percent share in Reesy for $1. Then I framed a $1 coin and receipt certificate for his birthday and framed it. It was a huge joke, which he loved.”
She said Tony’s passing has left a huge void in the lives of his family and friends, but added “The Man, The Myth, The Legend will live on in everyone’s hearts.”
