Jamie Cockshutt continues to profile some of the icons of Tasmanian harness racing, this time reflecting on the career of Tony Petersen.
Tony Petersen was destined to follow the family tradition and make his own name in harness racing just like his father Bricky Petersen, his uncle Harold Burdon and his grandfather Athol Burdon. It was in the blood and it was something that just felt natural doing.
The horses
Along the way Tony was regarded as one of the all-time great drivers winning the state’s leading drivers title in 1986/87 and 1987/88, beating a quality line up of great reinsmen.
Jane Ellen was an outstanding mare trained by Peter Dornauf before she went across to Bob and Vin Knight, from there she went on to be one of the all-time greats of Australian Harness Racing.
Looking back on Jane Ellen, Tony Peterson ranks her among the best he has driven.
“She was never beaten when she raced against her own sex, so she is clearly the best that I have had the privilege to drive,” Petersen said.
Reflecting on other quality performers he has driven; Petersen starts with a horse he first drove for trainer Gary Summers back in 1986.
“Prince Nijo was as gifted a youngster as I have driven, just had an amazing turn of foot,” said Petersen.
Prince Nijo was another transferred to the powerful Bob/Vin Knight stable winning a heat of the Victorian Derby.
“Shy Type was trained by Geoff Daly. He was enigmatic but when putting it all together was a brilliant pacer and could be competitive with the best.
“Sandros was trained by my uncle Harold who worked his way into Free for All company and always gave his best.”
A three-time winner at Moonee Valley in 1995 gave Petersen one of his biggest thrills in harness racing.
“Ricky Dean trained by Peter Gebel was just a pacer with great talent and was unlucky in the 1996 Tasmanian Pacing Championship.”
Misty Mike was a well-travelled horse who finished his racing career in Western Australia.
“Misty Mike was trained by a good friend in Ian Thallan. He was a very gifted pacer who could run some amazing times and actually did something we see today winning a Free for All race as a three-year-old”.
“Another Shy trained by Gerald Gee was just a great competitor who always gave his all and did some amazing things as a juvenile,” said Petersen about the gelding who won 38 races.
“Grants Last was trained by Robert Woods, he was just a very smart horse that competed at the top level with high distinction.”
It took Petersen until his seventh attempt to win in the gig with Lucky Atashy but the horse’s ability still stood out.
“He was trained by Dukey Jacobson and I only drove him a handful of times but every time he gave me a great feel. He had a big motor inside and could sprint quickly when asked.”
Petersen rates Goldberry Rose as the best youngster he has driven which comes as no surprise as he was an 11-time winner with the horse as a two-year-old.
“Goldberry Bronze was clearly the best juvenile I drove as he won many two-year-old features in Tasmania as well as a $30,000 final at Cranbourne.”
“Abbeyville was another nice two-year-old I drove to many wins and then went on to be competitive at open class level.”
The 1986 Tasmanian Derby was one of Petersen’s first feature wins.
“Nickarado was trained by Brian Rose and gave me one of my biggest wins by capturing the 1986 Tasmanian Derby.”
Another horse that tasted interstate success was Tyne Valley.
“He was trained by Phillip Hay, who was a brilliant three-year-old I won numerous races on and is another that ended up over with Vinnie and won plenty of races in Melbourne.”
Tony Petersen decided to retire from racing driving in 1996. He has driven in excess of 550 winners and was regarded by one of the greats by his peers.
The trainer
Tony also dabbled in thoroughbreds where he raced horses with his sister Cheryl and her husband Bob. They were trained by Terry Evans with the highlight being a horse called Born a King that was a natural two-year-old and later was sold to high profile owner Wolf Blass and went on to be trained by the legendary Bart Cummings.
With the money from the sale Petersen purchased a horse called Calling Price that was another nice two-year old that won a few races and was narrowly beaten in the feature classic for two-year-old’s, the Gold Sovereign.
Afgter a few years away from the harness game a close friend of Petersen, Robbie Bennett, asked him to train a young horse of his called Little Mish Posh.
She won the four-year-old Sire Stakes and went on to be a handy mare, but the entrance into the training aspect of racing left the door ajar for another mate of Petersen’s, Joe McKenzie, to come and ask him to train some of the family horses.
Among them were Armbro Cheval and a special horse called Wollahra Classic who would later go on to win at Moonee Valley. Petersen also had his hands on a couple of handy mares Lilli Vanilli and Step Up and Play, but it was a two-year-old by the name of Our Sir Jeckyl that would take Petersen’s training career to new heights.
Connections with Our Sir Jeckyl after he won the 2010 Easter Cup.
Jeckyl won over 30 races for Petersen which included many of the state’s best open class races with the pinnacle being the 2010 Easter Cup with Ricky Duggan in the gig.
He won a race at Melton which gave Tony his first and only winner at the home of harness racing in Victoria at present, and he also has a perfect strike rate at Melton.
Ransom Olds was another smart horse trained by Petersen who also raced to open company and always gave his best with his two biggest wins coming in the Toreace Flying Mile and the Plunkett Ascot Gold Cup where he beat two-time Australian Horse of the Year, Beautide.
Tales of the City was affectionally known as Spook. He only had 12 starts and won five of them, with his career unfortunately cut short when better races were on the horizon.
More recently, Usain Jolt was bred by Petersen’s sister Debbie and is raced by her family. He showed ability from day one which saw him win the Dandy Patch and has always competed against the best despite a few niggles, going on to win over $100,000 in prizemoney.
The opposition
Coming up through the ranks in his early days a reinsman Petersen admired most was Graeme Peck as he was just the complete all-round driver.
“I thought if I followed Graeme in the run, he would take me right into the race and make me look good,” Petersen laughed.
Petersen rates Don McVilly and Neville Webberley among his stiffest competition but enjoyed the battles.
“You enjoyed going to battle and they brought out the best in you.
“But back in those days the competition was so competitive as we had plenty of great drivers going around,” said Petersen.
Closing
It was sad to see Tony walk away from the sport he loved as he was at the top of his game with the main reason being the result of a disagreement with stewards in the 1996 Tasmanian Pacing Championship.
“I was driving Ricky Dean following the favourite Sunshine Band who was driven by Chris Gleeson. I thought he was going to be right in the finish, but my horse baulked at a crucial time which in my eyes cost me going very close to winning,” Petersen recalled.
“After the race I was disappointed and said to Peter Gebel (Ricky Dean’s trainer) that I was going to be right in the finish until he baulked and I was devasted as it’s not every day you get a chance to win a $100k feature race and that’s what really disappointed me the most.”
Petersen was given a reprimand from stewards for hitting a wheel in the race, a decision that he vehemently disagreed with to the point it took from his desire to continue race driving.
“That made me think about my future and I had just decided at the time I had enough, given I wasn’t mentally strong enough to deal with what happened on the night,” Petersen said.
Petersen credits the support of his wife Marlene for getting him through the good and bad times of racing, something that Tony certainly experienced through his many years in the game.
Inducted into the Tasmanian harness racing hall of fame in 2017, Tony Petersen is well regarded by his peers and will go down as one of the great drivers of the last 40 years, and in more recent times, a respected trainer.