![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/USERobb001-scaled.png\")
<\/p>\nIN 1999, Nyngan racehorse trainer Rodney Robb bought a brand-new Isuzu horse truck and started driving to race meetings across Australia.<\/p>\n
During the next 25 years, Robb clocked one-and-a-half-million miles in the Isuzu \u2013 but it\u2019s how he got the cash to buy the truck in the first place that makes for a better yarn.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d been training for about 24 years at the time \u2013 nailed up his shingle in 1975 \u2013 and there was a newly-arrived horse in his stable showing plenty of ability.<\/p>\n
The horse, Lord Dalavon, was a son of Dalavon, the best horse Robb says he\u2019s ever trained.<\/p>\n
There was also a bloke who owed Robb some coin, and he arrived cashed-up at the stables the same day the new horse was doing fast work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI broke in two horses for this bloke and it took him about four months to pay me,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe arrived at the stables one day and I\u2019d just finished working Lord Dalavon \u2013 God, he was a good horse.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d never had $1000 on a horse in my life, but said to my wife, Wendy, if this bloke pays me the money, I\u2019ll have it on Lord Dalavon at Dubbo on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWendy said we couldn\u2019t afford it, but I said we won\u2019t be saying that after the race,\u201d Robb chuckled.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rodney Robb has called time on 50 years of training (Image: Bill Poulos).<\/p>\n
Robb collared the grand, slapped it on the tote at mouth-watering odds of 60-1, and Lord Dalavon and apprentice Brian Carter got the job done in the 1000m class 2 handicap \u2013 by a couple of lengths, mind you.<\/p>\n
\u201cI bought a new Isuzu truck and it\u2019s been around the clock once \u2013 one million kilometres \u2013 and has another 570,000 kilometres clocked up,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve done more than one-and-a-half-million kilometres in that truck, and another truck I bought later has done 670,000 kilometres.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means I\u2019ve done more than two million kilometres since 1999. And that\u2019s only in the trucks \u2013 I\u2019ve worn out a Prado and two horse trailers as well,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n
Last hurrah<\/p>\n
A couple of weeks ago, 70-year-old Robb parked up the truck after getting home from the washed-out Enngonia Cup meeting.<\/p>\n
Enngonia was meant to be his last hurrah, and a fitting finale to a career spanning 50 years and countless winners all over Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plan was to make Enngonia the last meeting before retirement, but there was good rain out there,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could\u2019ve gone to Come-By-Chance (yesterday), but I said a long time ago that Enngonia would be the last meeting. It\u2019s always been a good track to me, and I\u2019ve got a lot of great owners out that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said to Wendy about six months ago, I\u2019ll go to Birdsville and do the circuit, come back and go to Enngonia and that\u2019ll do us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When Robb bought the truck in 1999, thanks to Lord Dalavon, he set about making the annual pilgrimage to outback Queensland, taking in race meetings at Birdsville, Bedourie and Betoota \u2013 and a few other places along the way.<\/p>\n
Some years, he\u2019d coax the trusty Isuzu further west and saddle horses at tracks in the Northern Territory and Western Australia \u2013 and win more races.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/DalavonCanterbury001.png\")
<\/p>\n
Dalavon, which Rodney Robb says is the best horse he\u2019s trained, beating Targlish at Canterbury in 1986. Robb\u2019s good mate, champion jockey Malcolm Johnston, is in the saddle (Image Supplied).<\/p>\n
Horseman born-and-bred<\/p>\n
Robb is a horseman born-bred-and-raised, and has been in Nyngan for 68-and-a-half of his 70 years. His old man, Clive, was a drover, a western districts legend, who passed away last year, aged 93.<\/p>\n
Many years ago, Clive told his son to stretch his wings, and not to worry too much about eking a living out of droving.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was born in Forbes and arrived in Nyngan in a wagonette when I was 18 months old. I\u2019ve been there ever since,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad said there was no future in droving, so I got a job on the railways.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to Cobar for seven years \u2013 got there in 1972 and left in 1979. I enjoyed Cobar \u2013 it was good \u2013 and it was good for me when I left school.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was on the railway at Cobar working in the goods shed, unloading wool and what-have-you \u2013 I was no stationmaster, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got my trainer\u2019s licence in 1975, and left the railway in 1979 to go full-time training.\u201d<\/p>\n
Queensland forays<\/p>\n
Robb\u2019s love affair with the Queensland outback started in 1999 \u2013 the year be bought the Isuzu truck.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got five horses ready, but my mum, Beryl, got crook. I had a team of five very good horses to take and there were eight or 10 owners and friends ready to go with us,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut mum got crook, and wasn\u2019t getting better as Birdsville got closer. I had a yarn with Col Richardson and Jim Hampstead \u2013 great mates of mine \u2013 and said, why don\u2019t you take the horses to Birdsville and do the circuit. Col used to train one or two horses. I wanted to stay home and be with mum.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey ended up taking three horses \u2013 Amirreb, Nazeem and Golden Promise \u2013 and Amirreb won the Birdsville Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amirreb won a class 6 by three lengths on the first day of carnival, and backed up 24 hours later to win the cup by nearly a length from Dry \u2018n\u2019 Sober and Crows Before Dawn.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was at Enngonia when Amirreb won at Birdsville on the Friday, and Jim called and wanted to know whether to start the horse in another class 6 the next day or the cup,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him to start in the cup \u2013 you only get one throw of the dice.\u201d<\/p>\n
On cup day, Golden Promise was beaten nearly two lengths when second in a 1200m maiden and Nazeem finished midfield in a 1200m open handicap.<\/p>\n
One week later, Nazeem beat Amirreb in the Bedourie Cup and Golden Promise was third in a five-furlong maiden.<\/p>\n
Three starts later, Nazeem won the Cobar Cup, with Normie Ward up. Amirreb finished fourth.<\/p>\n
Amirreb won the Birdsville Cup, but Robb wasn\u2019t there to see it, and surprisingly he hasn\u2019t won the race since.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s been plenty of winners at the track just about every year since, and it seems fitting that Robb\u2019s final winner was at Birdsville \u2013 Lady Dutton, owned by satchel-swingers Terry Picone and Peter Alexander.<\/p>\n
Winning the Birdsville Cup in 1999 at his first attempt planted a seed, and Robb has made the pilgrimage north just about every year since.<\/p>\n
\u201cI reckon I\u2019ve been up there more than 20 times, and a lot of trips I also went to Darwin,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did a big circuit one year and was gone for five-and-a-half months. We also went to Western Australia four times straight, to places like Kununurra and Wyndham.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a lot easier then. I always had 25 to 35 in work and trained a lot of tough horses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Robb would draft a handful of horses he thought would suit the Queensland circuit \u2013 tough horses that like the dirt and could handle long road trips.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was sort of easier to pick eight or nine out of the stable to take,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never, ever had one bit of trouble with owners. If I thought their horses were worth taking, they all gave me their blessing \u2013 and some came along on the trips.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy owners were always the first obligation, and I always tried to get the horses to pay their way for them. That\u2019s very important,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Supreme Attraction<\/p>\n
Robb says the best horse he\u2019s taken to Queensland for the circuit wasn\u2019t a cup winner, but a restricted class galloper that left its mark in 2019.<\/p>\n
Supreme Attraction started in the 1400m class 3 plate on day one of the Birdsville carnival and led throughout to score unextended by 13 lengths from Foxleigh and Static Lift.<\/p>\n
To quote Banjo Paterson, Supreme Attraction showed \u2018em the method to travel, the boy sat as still as a stone; they never could see him for gravel, he came in hard-held and alone.<\/p>\n
Supreme Attraction was resting up when French Hussler and Clayton Gallagher won the Birdsville Cup the next day for Barcaldine trainer Todd Austin.<\/p>\n
But the following week, Gallagher jumped on Supreme Attraction to win the 1300m class 6 handicap at Bedourie by seven lengths in race and track record time.<\/p>\n
The same day, French Hussler finished well back in the Bedourie Cup behind the Robb-trained Austin.<\/p>\n
Had Banjo been there, he would\u2019ve got the ink and parchment out quick smart.<\/p>\n
\u201cSupreme Attraction was the best horse I ever took to Birdsville,\u201d Robb said matter-of-factly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he had started in the cup, I reckon he would\u2019ve won. The race-caller said he\u2019d been calling races at Birdsville since he was 15 years of age, and had never seen a horse win by so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two years later, Robb took Supreme Attraction to Alice Springs for a hat-trick of wins, including the Cummins Cup. In all the gelding won 14 races, including five in a row at Alice Springs in 2023, when trained on the track by Terry Gillett.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a bloody good horse,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/CabroneDennisMcCluneGosford1987.png\")
<\/p>\n
Cabrone and Denis McClune after winning a 1200m intermediate at Gosford in 1987 (Image Supplied).<\/p>\n
The good horses remembered<\/p>\n
Robb has no idea how many winners he\u2019s trained during the past 50 years, but it\u2019s well over 1200. Quite possibly more.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t know,\u201d he shrugged.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never kept count or kept a diary, but the racing game has been good to me and the family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can recall all the best horses I\u2019ve trained though. Gee, I\u2019ve had some good ones,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Horses like Dalavon and arguably his best son, Lord Dalavon, Drought Breaker, Red Yacht, Cabrone, Cover of Darkness, Hussar\u2019s Wish, Dipalm and full brothers Letza Star and Let Me star won more than 140 races between them.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably the best horse I\u2019ve ever trained in my life was Dalavon. He could put a race beyond doubt at the 400-metre mark,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDipalm was good, too. He never won in Sydney, but won 21 races everywhere else, and another good one was Red Yacht, and Letza Star won in Sydney.<\/p>\n
\u201cLetza Star won at Canterbury \u2013 the day I got two winners. Drought Breaker was the other one.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis full-brother, Let Me Star, didn\u2019t win in Sydney but won 19 races,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
Robb recalled the day he went to the Dubbo yearling sales with a group of owners. A filly-foal caught his eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw this little brown mare go in \u2013 a bloke called Jack Gallagher used to train her mother \u2013 and I said to my mate Max Smith, another good owner, gee that\u2019s a nice horse,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him I\u2019d buy it myself, and gave $700 for her. We named her Normar and God she was good. \u201cNobody ever saw the best of her because she was a bugger of a mare to ride \u2013 used to throw Normie Ward every second morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, gee, she could gallop \u2013 a very, very good mare. She was a good producer, too, and had three foals, and they all won races,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
Forbes Cup and Malcolm<\/p>\n
For all his big wins across the country, including city tracks, Robb said winning the Forbes Cup was probably the most satisfying. Drought Breaker got the job done, with Robb\u2019s good mate, former champion Sydney jockey Malcolm Johnston, in the saddle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was born in Forbes and I\u2019m great mates with Malcolm, who was raised in Forbes. Malcolm rode Drought Breaker and Dalavon to win races in Sydney for me and I got him up to ride Drought Breaker in the Forbes Cup one year \u2013 winning that was a great thrill,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrought Breaker was only 15.3 hands and had a heart of gold.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the Forbes Cup dust had settled, and winning connections were enjoying post-race celebrations, owner Brian O\u2019Malley slipped Johnston a cash sling.<\/p>\n
\u201cMalcolm turned around and gave the money to my daughter, Jodi, and told her to buy herself a new show saddle,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cJodi would\u2019ve been 10 or 12 years old at the time and was doing a lot of showjumping in pony club, so Malcolm gave her the sling . . . there\u2019s a lot of good in a lot of good people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnston, one year younger than Robb, was at Birdsville this year to watch Lady Dutton win for his mate.<\/p>\n
\u201cMalcolm used to bring his young bloke out to our pony camps and we\u2019d go pig-hunting and things like that. We\u2019ve been mates for years, and it was great that he was at Birdsville this year,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
Robb has won just about every bush cup about, and the further west he went, the more space he\u2019d need on the mantelpiece.<\/p>\n
\u201cI reckon out of all the cups, I\u2019ve probably won the Louth Cup more than any other. I think I\u2019ve won it seven or eight times,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people at Louth are good people \u2013 the further west you go, the better they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Top riders<\/p>\n
Robb has legged up plenty of top riders during the past five decades \u2013 and his list of stable riders over the years reads like a who\u2019s who of bush racing.<\/p>\n
In recent years, Clayton Gallagher, Greg Ryan, Kody Nestor, Michael Hackett and picnic jockey Maddy Wright each guided Robb-trained gallopers back to the winners\u2019 enclosure dozens of times.<\/p>\n
Stable jockeys Norm Ward, Anna Hozack, Steve Harding and apprentice Chris Wearne rode more than 270 winners between them for Robb.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of good people working for me over the years,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNormie Ward was apprenticed to me and worked for me for 27 years. Steve Harding was a good rider, who was with me for six or seven years and Anna Hozack and Chris Wearne, one of my apprentices, were both good riders.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnna came to me for three months and stayed for six years,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
Family ties<\/p>\n
Like all bush racing folk brought up around horses, the bloodlines run deep in the Robb family.<\/p>\n
Sons Brett and Clive, and daughter Jodi, know their horses.<\/p>\n
They cut their teeth at the family stables and all did pony camp as children. Their old man has been president of the Nyngan Pony Club a few times over as well as chief instructor. He started in pony club when he was 11 years, and Brett, Clive and Jodi have followed the same course.<\/p>\n
Clive owns a butcher-shop in Nyngan and sells his own product.<\/p>\n
Brett, known universally as Snow, had made a name for himself as a trainer since nailing up his own shingle six years ago. He\u2019s now based at Dubbo, with partner Maddy Wright, who rode dozens of picnic winners for Rodney.<\/p>\n
In the short time he\u2019s been training, Brett\u2019s won premierships and feature races, including the $500,000 Country Championships at Randwick in 2023 with Sizzle Minizzle \u2013 at 60-1, thank-you very much \u2013 and TAB Highway Handicaps with Gallant Star, Boom Boom Basil and Poisen Point.<\/p>\n
He also won a NSW Country Picnics Championship four years ago with On A Promise.<\/p>\n
At the moment, he\u2019s preparing Gallant Star for a tilt at the $2 million Kosciuszko. The gelding finished sixth last year behind Dave McColm\u2019s Far Too Easy.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Brett was named NSW Country Racing Trainer of the Year with 58-and-a-half winners. His runners earned more than $1 million in prize money.<\/p>\n
Clive and Jodi are also race-day clerks of the course at Nyngan race meetings and Jodi, a regional manager with Home Care NSW, is an Australian champion barrel racer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever my three kids have chosen to do, they\u2019ve done very well,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the three of them all decided to train racehorses at the same time, they\u2019d all be equal. They\u2019re all as good as each other \u2013 that goes for riding and anything they take a hand to.<\/p>\n
\u201cJodi chose barrel-racing and went on to national level. She was selected to ride for News South Wales against the Queenslanders one year and was also selected for the Australian team to ride against the Kiwis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll our kids have ridden at national or state level, whether it be showjumping or any type of sport in pony club.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like anything. If you want to play football, you have to train, and if you want to ride horses, you have to ride them at practice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never, ever pushed them to ride, but they all knew that if they didn\u2019t ride or work their horses, they didn\u2019t go anywhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember one year, Wendy was away for 48 weeks, all through pony club \u2013 she has been my biggest supporter ever since the day we met,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
Learned from one of the greats<\/p>\n
Robb has known and met some fine horsemen and women during his lifetime, and has listened and learned from some of the best.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe greatest trainer I always took notice of for years and years was a bloke called Gary Cooper \u2013 I used to ring and talk to Gary twice a week,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
Cooper trained some champion bush gallopers from his Dubbo stables, including Let\u2019s Be A Star, Mighty Tom, Mundio and Imber to name a few.<\/p>\n
Like Robb, he didn\u2019t mind clocking the miles, and started horses across the western districts of New South Wales, deep into Victoria, at Charleville, Rockhampton and Townsville in Queensland and Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was 14 years old, and droving with my old man, Gary got me to ride a horse on the road for him for a week. I told him I was going to train racehorses one day,\u201d Robb smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember once, I got him to watch a horse for me. I said, I think there\u2019s something wrong with this horse, Gary, and I can\u2019t figure him out.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came over to the fence with me, we watched the horse and watched it race. He said, there\u2019s nothing you\u2019re doing wrong, Rodney. It\u2019s simple. At the 50-metre mark the horse ran out of breeding \u2013 the horse simply wasn\u2019t bred good enough,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of my horses, Red Yacht, ended up a very good horse, only because of Gary Cooper.\u201d<\/p>\n
Great owners<\/p>\n
Robb has trained horses for some great people, most of whom became lifelong friends. All of them gave Robb a free rein, especially when planning the long trips interstate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first blokes to ever give me a horse to train \u2013 one I got paid for, anyway \u2013 was Billy and Robert Boodle,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to buy my lucerne from Billy when I had showjumping horses. They were great clients of Tommy Smith and had Black Onyx, and some great horses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe O\u2019Malley and Egan families and Barrow family were all great owners,\u201d Robb said. Wayne Brown was a good owner, too; he\u2019s training at Tamworth now.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were plenty of good owners \u2013 blokes like David Simmons and Mark Ward. I could try and write them all down but I\u2019d still miss plenty of them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI trained a lot of horses for the O\u2019Malley family, Brian and Greg, and there was only one horse that wasn\u2019t any good, and that\u2019s the first horse I trained for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe O\u2019Malleys had a big property towards Wanaaring, the other side of Bourke, and they sent me this brown mare.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started her at Bourke and I said to Brian and Greg, she\u2019s not much good, but we started her anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the field went past the winning post, she was coming around the turn whinnying.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfterwards, along came Dalavon and Drought Breaker and others \u2013 they just kept coming,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
Money stable<\/p>\n
Moree bookie Terry Picone, who shares ownership with fellow bagman Peter Alexander, from Charleville, of Robb\u2019s last career winner, Lady Dutton, said when money came for a Robb-trained galloper they invariably won.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there was stable money for any of Rodney\u2019s runners, it meant they were very hard to beat,\u201d Picone said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, Rodney Robb money is the hardest money I\u2019ve ever come across on a racecourse. It\u2019s a very well-respected stable, and when the money goes on, it rarely missed,\u201d Picone said<\/p>\n
In 2022, stable money pinhooked Knee Slapper in the Bourke Picnic Cup.<\/p>\n
There was plenty of double figures to be had, and the price quickly tumbled to 7-1. Nothing strange about that.<\/p>\n
This was a stable-inspired plunge, after all.<\/p>\n
Terry Picone\u2019s brother, Chris, said bookies were caught off-guard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe horse was a maidener, but the money kept coming \u2013 and, of course, the horse won. I aked Terry, who starts a maiden horse in an open picnic cup, and he said \u2018this is Rodney Robb we\u2019re talking about, remember\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Banjo-esque twist is that a few starts later, Knee Slapper won a class B at Nyngan and a class 1 at Carinda after winning the Bourke Picnic Cup.<\/p>\n
They are the only races Knee Slapper won in a 43-start career, but he earned a unique place in bush racing history as a cup-winning maidener.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/LadyDuttonBirdsville001.png\")
<\/p>\n
(from left) Duncan Edwards, Rodney Robb, Mick Gray, Malcome Johnston and Wendy Robb with Lady Dutton at Birdsville on September 5. Lady Dutton was Robb\u2019s last winner as a trainer (Image Supplied).<\/p>\n
Lady Dutton<\/p>\n
As a racehorse owner, Terry Picone makes a pretty good bookmaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been in part-ownership of horses with Rodney, on and off, for about 20 years. There hasn\u2019t been much success, but that\u2019s driver error \u2013 my fault for picking slow horses,\u201d Picone said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRodney is a great bloke to have horses with, and when he says \u2018today\u2019s the day\u2019, he\u2019s right nine times out of 10. If Rodney said, \u2018this will win\u2019, they\u2019d win.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an owner, there weren\u2019t many winners, but when there was, it was good times,\u201d Picone smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cRodney\u2019s a horseman as well as a trainer, and cares for his horses. It\u2019s his bread and butter. He\u2019s been a horseman all his life, and still is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fellow bookie Peter Alexander agrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cRodney\u2019s a very, very good bush trainer, who\u2019s dealt with a lot of second-hand horses over a long period of time \u2013 sometimes third-hand, where he\u2019s had to patch them up to get them to the races,\u201d Alexander said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t get the bluebloods from the breeding barns, put it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Picone and Alexander never had two-bob on Lady Dutton when she won at Birdsville.<\/p>\n
Rodney Robb did.<\/p>\n
He doesn\u2019t mind boasting he wagered $25 each-way at odds of 20-1. Sure, it wasn\u2019t a Lord Dalavon-inspired plonk, but a nice collect from a horse that wasn\u2019t rated a hope in hell by its owners.<\/p>\n
\u201cLady Dutton is not one of the better ones I\u2019ve trained, but the owners are as good as any other people I\u2019ve trained for,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe money they paid for Lady Dutton, you\u2019d spend that on a Chinese feed if you went out the night before the races,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut she kept improving, and when I started her at Betoota over 800m, I thought the run was good.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told Terry and Peter, the mare has run a good race. She drew wide and was never on the track. The race was too short for her, but she was the only horse making ground,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In the days following, Lady Dutton continued to improve, but not enough for Picone and Alexander to brush the cobwebs off the pineapples, apparently.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I accepted for her at Birdsville, Peter said it was a strong race and we might be better off waiting for Bedourie. But he added, it was my call,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
The trainer consulted Picone, who argued Lady Dutton had drawn wide.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told Terry the mare\u2019s done well and feels good. Later, Wendy and I were sitting around the fire and Wendy asked what the plans were for Lady Dutton.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said I wanted to start her \u2013 who\u2019s to know what might happen the following week at Bedourie. It could rain, for one thing, or she could draw the outside there, too, and Bedourie is a worse track than Birdsville if you draw wide,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Robb deliberately waited until after the scratchings deadline on race-day morning before again consulting Picone and Alexander.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would\u2019ve talked me into not starting her had I spoke to them,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t call them, and just turned up at the track.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lady Dutton defied its owners by racing midfield to the turn and powering home to beat Dawn Embers and Day to Remember by a half-length.<\/p>\n
And what a day to remember \u2013 Lady Dutton was Robb\u2019s last winner as a trainer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not quite sure Lady Dutton will reach the heights of some of my good horses, but she\u2019ll win one or two more,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last time I spoke to Terry Picone, he said he was going on holidays to Greece \u2013 he must\u2019ve got something out of Lady Dutton to get all the way to Greece and back,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n
Time for family<\/p>\n
Robb said closing the book on 50 years of training winners across Australia was a decision not taken lightly.<\/p>\n
But, he says, he\u2019s not getting any younger, and wants to spend more time with his family and grandchildren.<\/p>\n
He wants to watch them grow up and wants to support their endeavours. He says there will always be plenty to do on the family farm at Nyngan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a very good block here at Nyngan \u2013 racing has been good to us \u2013 and we never wasted our money,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got 1250 acres just a five-minute walk for a horse from the back of the levee bank at Nyngan, with a fair few sheep and a fair few cattle. I\u2019ll still do a little bit about the place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got grand-kids that are bits of rugby league players and bits of Aussie Rules players, and they are pretty good little riders, too, and I want to follow them a bit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy daughter, Jodi, won two national championships at Tamworth, but I didn\u2019t get to either one of them, and I\u2019ve been watching her ride since she was two-and-a-half years old.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got grandsons away at school, and I want to get in the car and go and watch them play football and things like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t mean this in a bad way, but I played a little bit of football at school and played a couple of years at Cobar and four years at Nyngan, and I think my mum and dad only saw me play one game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t hold that against them, don\u2019t get me wrong, because they were always too busy working \u2013 and that\u2019s\u2019 the same with me at the moment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Robb\u2019s grandsons will be home for school holidays, and are always the first to put up their hands when work on the farm needs to be done.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s just how kids are raised in the bush.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve only just got back from being down in the paddock with my two grandsons and we marked 250 lambs \u2013 one grandson is 13 and the other is 10,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019ve got another grandson at Farrer in Tamworth. I rang him the other day and he said, don\u2019t mark those lambs until I get home and I\u2019ll help you. He\u2019s 13 years old. It\u2019s great to do things like that with the kids, and now I\u2019ll have the time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be honest, I\u2019ll have no regrets. I\u2019ve thought about retiring for a long time and now I\u2019ll have plenty of time to do whatever I want to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cWendy and I talked about it, and she said, we\u2019ve been in it for a long time, and the horses always came first.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve done a lot in 50 years, especially the mile \u2013 it\u2019s been a good ride,\u201d Robb said.<\/p>\n
HOOFNOTE: Robb\u2019s son Brett, fresh from winning the Highway Handicap at Rosehill Gardens yesterday with Poisen Point, will have two runners at today\u2019s Dubbo Cup meeting.<\/p>\n
Robb starts first-starter Sunday Lemonade in the 1000m showcase maiden plate and Proper Twelve first-up in the 1200m class 2 showcase plate.<\/p>\n
Robb also accepted with Rouge Moulin, sixth emergency in the 1100m Vincent Gordon Flying Handicap, but the gelding missed a start.<\/p>\n
WORDS: Bill Poulos<\/p>\n
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