Ray, better known as Razor, from the famous Douglas racing family, should have been basking in the record of his 800th win as a 61-year-old jockey at Woolamai Picnics on Saturday.
But along came 82-year-old upstager Bob Kuchenmeister to drive a winner at the Melton trots in a night of surprisingly other octogenarian heroes.
"I'm still loving it and have been very lucky, always been a worker," said Ray, on a shift at the Port Melbourne wharves for SeaRoad, his Balnarring Bobcat business buzzing alongside without him back at home.
"I'm fit and healthy, I'm not sure I want to be 82 and still be at it, but 62 sounds fine, might have to change codes though if that is the case," he said.
Ray, brother to Vic and Rod, uncle to Clayton, has a razor sharp memory (no pun intended), suggesting that it may come from being the only Douglas who hasn't had a drink, so not surprisingly he can rattle off a litany of yarns from the track that Damon Runyon may have struggled to entertain.
"Someone had to drive them home," Douglas recalled of his days as a 14-year-old behind the wheel with the stable float and his father and ‘copper mates', in the back.
Jockey Ray Douglas with trainer Tony Vasil after winning the 2014 Balnarring Cup with Oceanographer.
There have been legendary plonks with trainer Peter Homann and owner Tom Hedley at the Cairns Amateurs, when he was a jockey for hire earning more than jockeys of the day. "I was 17 or 18, a professional amateur I suppose."
He remembers the horse – Chaiwan – the colours – black white spots, red sleeves – the prices of course – 8-1 into 5-2 – "there were 100 bookies back then, we got plenty."
"He was a master at setting them up Peter, we were all sworn to secrecy, I wasn't even allowed to say I was going, they flew me up and then this green Chrysler pulls up, the window winds down three inches, and after a puff of smoke Peter looks out and says ‘thank Christ it's you' – he'd driven up, three days from Warrnambool with the horse," he said.
Ray Douglas winning the 2014 Balnarring Cup on Oceanographer.
Old school tough betting ring names like Barry Long, Garry Walsh, the Jorgensens, all get lines in this very Runyonesque tale.
And there are so many more of them.
Like when Razor backed his mount and let it ride at the picnics (all legal then), that was Tialinta, $500-each-way at Healesville then backing up two weeks later and having the entire $4000 on at 2-1 – "it fell in" – winning $12,000, enough in 1981 to buy a decent block of land.
"I didn't have to work then, it was great being allowed to bet, it was pretty easy to set one up and go bang."
Or when the Douglas', he rode for his father, won three at Healesville (netting about $13,500 if you like).
"They put the thing up in the last long odds on, it was a dead set 4-1 chance but all the same we said ‘we've already got all your money, if you want to get it back, you had better bet us.' We got an even $5000 on and it fell in too."
There was one dry gully, a deep one too, when disqualified for five years, all over the punt too.
"I might have been guilty of other stuff but they pinged us for that one and we weren't right for it," Douglas said.
"They reckon I asked a lady rider (that was Prue Latchford) to pull one up, the strapper (Michael Klingenberg) said we asked him too, what was he going to do, he was the strapper, was he going to trip it up, anyway we knocked the price off but we didn't have our figures right I reckon," Douglas said.
So five years for a picnic jockey. "I worked, I didn't want anyone to think I was a complete dill picnic jockey, so I had a stint at BHP, ran a skylight business, a landscaping business, tennis courts, what else was I going to do," Douglas said.
If this sounds like a rollicking bygone era, think about the strength and popularity of the Picnic racing circuit today and where Douglas still fits, perhaps not as dominantly as those double figure Balnarring Cup victories (the Melbourne Cup of the circuit), the seven at Yea, the five at Alexandra making up a portion of that 800 winners – to date!
Jockey Ray Douglas (left) with connections after winning the 2014 Balnarring Cup on Oceanographer.
And to pinpoint a date, go back to Boxing Day 1976, when a 15-year-old R Douglas had his first ride on Byetalk in a maiden at Drouin.
"I was pretty green, didn't have the grounding of the kids of today and it was a strand start. I had only been out of the barriers once. I'd ridden plenty of trackwork but the old man had set this one up to win.
"Anyway it won by a head, dad went to the bar with his mates and got pissed, we were packing up and getting ready to go home and the more they drank, the more they thought about running it again in the last. So we got it ready to run again, he said just treat it like a working gallop," Douglas said.
"So I'm there going one banana, two banana, and I was 15-20 lengths off them, still remember it and thought I better give it a dig, well then it just took off and won again, first two rides, two winners, this is easy," Douglas said.
That's 47 years ago to start the run of 800 winners. That was the year Van Der Hum won the Melbourne Cup, Malcolm Fraser was PM, Hawthorn won the VFL premiership, Manly the rugby league, Mark Webber and Mark Philipoussis were born and The Sullivans and Young Doctors debuted on the tele, and by the way it just happened to be the year Bob Kuchenmeister recalled driving a winner at the old Showgrounds.
"It has taken a while, I thought I never get there, but I'll keep going, I love it. Love the game."
"The crowds are always good, the betting rings are always strong, they reckon you can still get on to win $10,000 or $15,000. There might be plenty of mug money, but someone said they'd bet even money Kingston Town in his prime to let you on."
"I have only really had one serious injury when I broke an ankle and missed the season (2019), but I work six days a week, if I am on the early shift at the wharves, I start at 6am and work the horses (he and partner Christine Boyd have a property at Somers) at 3.30 in the afternoon, otherwise they get done early before I start at 10," Douglas said.
"You've got to live life and enjoy it," says Douglas in a simple motto to another enduring racing tale. Razor will be sharp at healesville and after win #801, and then some.
Comentários