Tony Ottobre seemingly doesn’t have a lot in common with that loud boxing carnival barker Don King.
Remember him? Big hair, big mouth but the big voice of a sport he once dominated with its biggest stars from Ali to Tyson. From incarceration to controlling the sport’s box office. Embraced and proudly so.
"I don't promote boxing, I promote people. Boxing is a catalyst to bring people together," he once said in a moment of a little introspection.
Change “boxing” to “racing” and you get a bit of or better perspective of where we are heading here with Tony Ottobre.
Ottobre loves a stoush, more a bantamweight, that can throw plenty of jabs, but always with good spirit.
And he loves racing. Why wouldn’t he, he owns Australia’s most popular (if not arguably best) racehorse Pride of Jenni.
Just as he wants Jenni to fly the flag for racing in turbulent winds, ghosts of King swirl. Not that Tony, dawdles in such retrospection.
He’s half King’s height, even without any hair, a different colour, but with a similar flair for the vernacular. And more so, the end game, and how to get there and beef up the show
The former apprentice jockey who never rode a winner, a strapper at Lindsay Park (Bush Win in an Australian Cup in 1974 a highlight there), and now he is taking them on and headlining the game with his own box office superstar Pride Of Jenni.
So, you can now buy Jenni socks – you know, those sky blue and purple diamonds ones, the favorite colors of Jenni Ottobre, the inspiration for all things Tony and family since her tragic passing with brain cancer.
King would say (well with a lot more of bravado nonsense): "You must believe the unbelievable, snatch the possible out of the impossible."
Ottobre has fuelled the impossible, the most astonishing performance when Jenni last seen out in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick back in April, towelling Via Sistina and Mr Brightside, familiar foes.
One remembers David Hayes, father to the lads Ben, JD and Will, after that, suggesting "let’s run Mr Brightside where she doesn't."
And then here we go Saturday, Melbourne's first Group 1 of an exciting (we hope) spring. and there's Mr B and Jenni entering the ring again.
It should be a headline box office contest, there's a more than useful undercard, where's racing Don King when you need him?
The call of the card sits currently Jenni 4-1 over Brightside. But he did beat her first time out last campaign over the track and trip in the Orr Stakes by a millimetre in the autumn.
But in an addition to the real tale of the tape, Mr Brightside has raced five time at Caulfield over the 1400m course and knocked out all of five of them. (Jenni, five also for just one win and three placings.)
It’s an opportunity for fighting words. And Ottobre is up for them. But more so for the sport he loves.
“I just hope people can see that maybe she is something special, something different, and say let’s go along and see what’s going on with all the talk and see what she is doing,” Ottobre said.
With that big picture stiff that he genuinely embraces and believes in, comes the Ottobre brashness from where he came to be here. He’s not a one-horse man, but he’s a horse man, a racing man.
But a fiercely patriotic Australian, thankful for the chances this country gave him, born here (1956), the son of Italian parents, his father Domenico, his father (Tony's grandfather), a hard worker - 16 hours a day, sending money home to the family.
“That's where I get it from. I’ve been successful in business,” says Ottobre, whose LED Technologies company, gave him the financial security to fund a platform and passion to fulfil a lifelong dream and honour his daughter.
“In business I learned to be ruthless, take no prisoners,’ he said.
“We’ve got a special horse, of course we hope to win everything, some day we will get run down, that’s how it works out, but let’s just say we like being winners.”
You are, I am, Australian - Tony Ottobre and why Pride Of Jenni makes him a proud Aussie. (clarkofthecourse.com)
Ottobre simply adds “passionate” to anything he does. It’s more than an adequate adjunct.
And calling it exactly as he sees it is trademark Ottobre, whether it is disdain for the Victorian government, or aspects of horse racing administration or media, political correctness and grey areas, there are none!
“I’m always like that, always been like that. I’m passionate about anything I do, and I don’t worry about saying so, if you haven’t got that passion, you will never get to the top.”
Which is why Ottobre is a hands-on owner – sure all Jenni horses – but Pride of Jenni has been through Shane Bottomley and David Brideoake and Symon Wilde before finding forever home with Ciaron Maher (and especially Jenni’s friend and carrot supplier Samantha Waters).
“It is all on me, I’m a different cat, its why we get so emotional and involved, this is our horse, my family, we aren’t owners in a syndicate, all the decisions are mine so if we fail, it’s on me and I don’t like losing.”
Which is where the fun-loving barbs coming in, the jabs, the upper cuts, the deft hooks, all in good spirit.
“Didn’t the Hayes’ boy dad (David) say – they would go wherever Jenni wasn’t– I’ll remind them of that after the weekend, mind you I could see why they are but it’s all good fun,” Ottobre said.
“I just love the competition, you’ve got to be graceful with it, I know what it’s like to run second, but I don’t like running second, so it’s all good theatre and good for racing in the meantime,” Ottobre said.
So, the plan is not to run second with Pride Of Jenni this spring. Sure, it starts Saturday in the Group 1 Memsie where she and Mr B are sparring favoritism around $2.6.
Ottobre with wife Lyn, son Michael have ended their Mooloolaba winter break to return to a Ciaron Maher pre-spring soirée lunch on Friday into a return to Caulfield, where Tony hopes the angst of the maligned mounting yard is forgiven for hosting two of Australia’s most popular horses.
“I love winning and when I do, I like to let people know, some might think I’ve got a big head and get cranky, but that’s just where we come from. But I am also a humble loser and I’ll be first to acknowledge the Hayes’ boys,” he said.
“If I can talk up the banter to get people along, that’s great too, I’m not really concerned, but I am concerned about racing and what’s good for us.”
It still slightly irks Ottobre that the spectacular performance from Pride of Jenni to take the Queen Elizabeth Stakes in the autumn remains of some question, mainly amongst the vanquished.
“Why would some try and denigrate one of the greatest performances on a racetrack of all time,” he said.
And here’s to many more. Starting Saturday. Aiming at a King Charles Stakes in Sydney and hopefully a back-up in a Cox Plate – legendary stuff.
Stuff that Don King would inhale and then sharply exhale with some trademark hyperbole.
"I dare to be great. The man without imagination stands unhurt and hath no wings. This is my credo, this is my forte."
"If you want to sell a steak, you can't just have the sizzle, you gotta have sauce."
Ottobre has Pride Of Jenni – she’s different gravy.
As the barker with the megaphone out the front of the tent might howl – “roll up roll up, come see the show! “
It’s on at Caulfield at Saturday
And after a week of messy off-track turmoil and committee room barneys, it’s a chance to take in what really matters, heavyweights of the track like Pride of Jenni and Mr Brightside.
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