MV On Track 2018

ON TRACK MAGAZINE 23 It chronicled the feats of legendary gallopers Kingston Town and Manikato, whose greatest triumphs were etched into history around The Valley. Kingston Town won three successive Cox Plates, in 1980-81-82, while Manikato numbered five successive William Reid (now Australia) Stakes among his multiple wins at the course. “I was given that tape when I was about 15 or 16, and I played it so many times it wore out,” Boss said. “At that stage I hardly knew anything at all about Flemington, but I knew everything about Moonee Valley.” It was only a year or so earlier that Boss, almost on the spur of the moment, decided he wanted to be a jockey. Even though he’d grown up riding horses on the family farm, he knew barely nothing about racing. “At that stage I didn’t even know what a jockey was.” It all changed one Saturday, when his grandmother took him to the races at Gympie. He was in Year 10 at the time, and says the following Monday or Tuesday he announced he was leaving school, and within a week was back in Gympie looking to start an apprenticeship. His rise through the ranks has been well documented; he was a top jockey in Brisbane and Sydney, won Victoria’s Scobie Breasley Medal in 2009, and was Melbourne’s leading jockey in 2010. He achieved the ultimate in 2015, when he was inducted into Australian racing’s Hall of Fame. For many reasons race riding is a tough occupation. There is no certainty to it; winners that seem to be coming easily can all of a sudden dry up, opportunities can be missed as much as they are taken, and of course the risk of serious, even life threatening injury is never more than a stride away. Boss found that out when he fell in a race in Macau in 2002, and landed on his head. He broke his C2 vertebrae in three places. “Fortunately I stayed concious, and knew not to move a muscle. They told me later if I’d moved I would probably have turned a stable fracture into an unstable fracture; most likely I would have died.” ...one of the most impressive horses I’d seen, and been on, in my life. -Glen Boss