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Maxine Whitington and John Walsh have been long-time supporters of the QROA and the Queensland racing industry.
Every Saturday you’ll find them at the Brisbane race meeting. They’re there from the time the gates open, so that they don’t miss ‘their table’, and they stay until the last race.
The only days their seats are empty are when they are watching one of their horses race at another venue.
Racing plays a huge role their lives, it’s their passion and it’s been that way since they purchased their first racehorse, Parasong, in 1980. John was finally seeing his childhood dream come to fruition.
A few months later, when Maxine was on holidays, John decided to surprise her by buying a second racehorse ‘for her’, because it was a grey and greys were always her favourite.
She laughs as she remembers the occasion.
“I was very surprised to return home and find Majestic Missile. But he was a beautiful animal.”
They were living in Sydney at the time, with Jim O’Connor their trainer, and even then they would make the trek to Queensland for suitable races. In fact, Majestic Missile won his first race at the Gold Coast. After all these years, and all their success, Majestic Missile still holds a special place in Maxine’s heart and remains her favourite.
It was only twelve months later that John and Maxine had a real taste of success when their horse, Brianne ran third to November Rain in the Queensland Oaks.
That success then encouraged the couple to dabble in some breeding, with Buffalo Bill, Maxi Bid and Royal Arena, some of their more successful horses.
Maxine has a little chuckle a she reminisces the time, and she states “we stopped because we didn’t do much good there.”
The couple moved to Brisbane in 1992 and continued their racing here, enjoying plenty of wins and the social side of racing.
It wasn’t until 2008 that John’s favourite horse, The Sixties, hit the scene. He was named ‘The Sixties’ by Maxine because was out of Grand Era, and she thought the 60’s was just that! Maxine said the horse was extremely popular because of his name and she’d often hear people comment about it as they were placing a bet.
“He was a real bulldog, he would always keep trying and fight to the line,” said Maxine.
“He was also very consistent; you'd give your right arm for one like him all the time.”
John and Maxine won the most races with The Sixties, he recorded 11 wins, 9 seconds and 9 thirds before retirement in 2014 to a family at Mudgeeraba for pony club.
“I love my horses,” she states proudly.
“They all have different personalities and I know them all, so we always find them good homes and I keep in touch with their new owners and follow their post-race careers. In fact, Royal Arena even went on to represent Australia at the Junior Pony Club titles.”
The Sixties was trained, and part owned, by Tracy Green and she has continued that association with John and Maxine in their latest galloper, Substation, a 5 year old by Not A Single Doubt. He’s won five races so far and they hope more are to come.
They’re also in the process of rehabilitating, Mischievous Missile, who had showed them potential before breaking a sesamoid.
“We thought we may have to put him down, but we really didn’t want to,” said Maxine.
“We’ve given him 18 months and he’s doing really well, so Tracy may bring him back slowly. We’ll just take it day by day and see what happens.”
As for buying more horses…
“Well, you can never say never,” Maxine laughs.
One thing is for certain, whether they’re there to cheer on their own, or someone else’s, they’ll always enjoy their day out at the Brisbane races. |
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