Gilio (Jim) Marconi 19 November 1929 – 5 January 2012 Jim was born in a small village in northern Italy, in 1932. The bricklayer and builder migrated to Australia in 1957 and purchased his first racehorse in 1968. In 1973 he bought his second horse, Taras Bulba who was Australia’s champion 3yo stayer and retired as Australia’s highest ever prizemoney earner. In 1976 he purchased a property on Moorooduc Road. In 15 months, having never worked with racehorses, he built a training facility, gained a picnic trainers licence and his first starter won. 9 months later he had his first city winner, and his first stakes winner a few years after that. 5 years after his first picnic winner he trained Cossack Prince to beat Kingston Town in Sydney. In 1988/89 his horse Rancho Ruler was declared Australasia’s Champion Sprinter and was retired to stud. By the mid 1990’s, he was the leading owner, trainer and breeder of Victorian bred thoroughbreds, winning 5 vehicles in 3 Years. For the 33 years that he trained from Mornington, he trained 131 horses, of whom 102 won, the highlight being Dancing Sculptor who claimed the 1999 Mornington Cup amongst his 10 Mornington wins. Upon retiring at the age of 78, he enjoyed watching and advising his 4 children, his 6 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren until he passed just short of his 88th birthday, in November 2020.
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