By Duane Ranger (courtesy of Redcliffe Paceway)
Alberton horseman, Rhett Markey, says father, Robert’s, health might be ailing, but the 85-year-old still reckons he can outdrive his son – even from the luxury of his lounge seat.
“Mum and Dad still get a big thrill out of watching my horses race. We’ve had horses for as long as I can remember and it’s very satisfying to still produce winners,” Markey said.
Markey did exactly that at Redcliffe Paceway on Sunday night (May 21) when he trained, drove, bred, and owned Sir Boston to win race five by a neck.
It was both Markey and Sir Boston’s second win of the season after his 3-year-old Boom Boom Hall gelding also won at Albion Park on April 28.
It was his fourth win in 15 starts since making his debut at Redcliffe Paceway last June 30 when second. He’s also placed four times and banked $27,467 in purses.
“It’s just so good that Dad gets to see this fella go around. My father has been my inspiration and mentor for many years now and I would love to go achieve what he did back in 2005,” Markey said.
That was when Markey Senior trained Tisaknockout to win the 2yo Colts and Geldings Triad Final on July 9, 2005, at ‘The Creek’.
“I drove the horse for Dad that night and it was a memorable moment. It’s something that I’d like to achieve too with this fella – perhaps this year. The 3yo Triad Final is in August, and we still have to qualify for it yet, but it’s on my bucket list,” Markey said.
Sir Boston and Markey won the 2yo Qbred Triad Consolation by 3.3 metres with a personal best 1:57.1 mile rate at ‘The Creek’ on August 23 last year
“He was emergency for the final but there were no scratchings, so he didn’t make the field. I’d like to go one better this year,” Markey said.
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He said Sir Boston was a tough little horse, who despite still being “as green as hell”, had a bit of talent.
“He’s only a little fella, but he’s getting better and better with each run. He’s only had 15 starts, and just five this season. I like to take my time with my horses, especially this fella because he is lightly framed.
“He’ll race again in a week or so leading up to the bigger races in the Winter,” said Markey, who works a team of six at Alberton, which is in rural Gold Coast.
Sir Boston drew seven in Sunday’s Wolf Signs NR40-43 Pace. Markey bided his time in the trail with the bay gelding before coming off the markers at the top of the lane. They got up by a head pacing the 1,780m mobile in 2:11 with a 1:58.4-mile rate. They were the $7 third favourites.
The victory has now prompted Market to get Sir Boston’s mother, the 2011 Million Dollar Cam – Rado Rate (Torado Hanover) two-win mare, Milliondollar Rose back from New South Wales.
“She’s actually been down there for a couple of years being a surrogate Mum for a quarter horse.
“I sent her down there to carry eggs for a New South Wales breeder, but now that this fella is going okay, I think I’ll get her back and breed from her.
“The Q-bred bonus here is just too good not to have her breeding again. Sir Boston has now won two of his Q-bred bonuses. It just adds to the winning pot. I think all States in Australia should have this.
“It’s a great incentive to breed and racehorses in Queensland,” Markey said.
Milliondollar Rose has only left two foals – the first, a Quality Cam colt died while she was giving birth in 2017, and then on November 26, 2019, Sir Boston was born.
Harness Racing Australia shows that Markey had trained 89 winners and driven 128 more since the 1982-83 season. However, he believed it would be double that because he drove many winners at former tracks like Charters Towers, MacKay, Cairns and Townsville since 1975.
Markey was born in Brisbane, but his family relocated to Townsville when he was five. He attended Townsville High School for a couple of years and then went and worked for prominent trainer Jack Rix.
“I was originally an amateur jockey who won a couple of races, but I weighed in at 70kg back then and just got too heavy, so I decided to go to a trotting stable, and that’s when I worked for Jack.
“He was an astute trainer, who conditioned at least 150 winners a year back in the day. Like Dad, he taught me a hell of a lot about the intricacies of standardbreds,” Markey said.
However, when the Townsville Trotting track closed in 2004-2005, Markey relocated to the Gold Coast, and worked with his father at Currumbin Waters. We have now been at Alberton for nearly two years now.
Asked if Sir Boston had to the potential to be the best horse that he has trained, Markey replied:
“Not yet, but he’s the best I’ve bred. I think potentially the best horse that I have trained would be the 1979 Tyros Hanover gelding, Skipper Ahoy.
“He had a lot of potential and could have gone a long way, but he succumbed to injury. I remember he paid more than $100 first up at Albion Park.
Asked what he thought of Redcliffe Paceway?
“I love the place and will always bring my horses to race there. Sir Boston will line up there again soon. The track gives every horse a chance, especially when you are on the pace.
“The committee does a good job in promoting the club. They are friendly and have good racing there. and I’m not too far from the track. It’s only about 50 minutes from Alberton and about five minutes from the new track they are proposing at Norwood,” Markey said.
