Few names are more famous in Tasmanian racing than Rattray. Covering three generations and almost 50 years in the industry the Rattray name is revered in harness racing and it all started out with Wayne and Gaye.
Wayne “Creamy” Rattray was a football star who eventually would hang up the boots for a career in racing and what a career it has been.
In the first of a two part series by Jamie Cockshutt, Wayne and Jamie cover the introduction into racing, Wayne’s training development and the horse that would send Wayne on his way, Karalta Gift.
Talented sportsman
Wayne was a very talented sportsman who enjoyed plenty of success as a tennis player, and also a gifted woodchopper where he had plenty of success around the state carnivals.
His real passion was football as he just lived and breathed it. All he wanted to do was make the state schoolboys as a youngster and of course he achieved that dream and had the pleasure to play alongside the likes of the Legendary Darrel “Doc” Baldock and another star in Tassy Johnson.
Wayne tasted plenty of success in football as both a player and coach, winning the premiership for his home town of Ringarooma is what led to the red and black colours later being used in his racing days.
First venture into harness racing
Wayne Rattray’s first foray into harness racing began when he went to a horse sale, running into Cyril and Lindsay Rattray who asked if he was interested in getting a horse.
“I picked out this really nice filly but got into a bidding war with someone across the other side of the ring and she wasn’t going to give in, so I pulled out,” said Wayne Rattray.
“The one I missed out on turned out be a very good horse called Credit Funds which ended up being trained by Cedric Loone,” Rattray added.
Lindsay Rattray then found a filly that was very closely related to Credit Funds, so Wayne invested, and it ended up being First Credit.
The horse went to Gaye Rattray’s father Bill McKerrow to break in and train as he had been involved with the horses for many years and had plenty of success along with his lovely wife Connie.
Connie loved the horses and as the years went on, she would never miss a meeting as she followed Barrie, Kent and later James and Gareth who she just adored.
“Barrie and Neville used to jump on the back of First Credit and ride her around the forestry roads of Cuckoo before school which gave them great experience to the standardbred,” Wayne Rattray recalled.
First Credit won her first race at Ulverstone rating 2:14 so there weren’t to many wins left in her but that win gave Wayne the bug and it was hook, line and sinker from there.
Training career
Cuckoo was more renowned for its forestry and its Hop Farms but that was where Wayne and Gaye bought a dairy farm and setup home for the family.
The kids were at various stages of school and with about 70 head of cattle there was plenty to do for the whole family.
It was here that the Rattray boys really started getting involved with the standardbred including an old hack called Buster.
The family farm at Cuckoo.
“I’ll never forget the day the boys called out and said have a look what we have done. The boys had harnessed Buster up with some binding twine to the framework of their old pram,” laughed Wayne.
“Kent was in the pram with Neville riding the horse and off they went around the paddock.”
Wayne and Gaye ventured on a tour to the 1974 Inter Dominion in South Australia, a trip that would ultimately deliver a special horse for the whole family.
“Gaye and I went down to Ross Sugars property to have a look at a horse he had for sale called Tarlyn Boy,” Wayne said.
“Tarlyn Boy came home with us and actually fronted up not long after with Barrie in the gig.
“Barrie had played football that morning and had fractured his leg, but nothing was going to stop him from driving the horse and in fact it happened to be his first winner as a driver,” said Wayne.
That gave the family a huge thrill, especially Bill and Connie with Tarlyn Boy being the first of many winners to come for Wayne and Barrie as a trainer/driver combination.
After that, it wasn’t long before the famous red and black colours came to the fore producing plenty of winners.
Wayne had great success training from his Cuckoo property. He didn’t like training for outside clients in his early days unless he could get a lease percentage so that’s how the likes of Vicar Neptune, Swishinova and Swishinon ended up in the stable.
He also had Napolean Stone, Karalta Khan and of course the best of all Karalta Gift come through his stables at Cuckoo.
Wayne was having great success and the stable was only getting bigger, but the travel was becoming a bit much for him, so when a property came on the market at Longford, Wayne and Gaye jumped at the opportunity to buy it.
The property was owned by successful galloping trainer Ken Hanson, so it was a bit of a bonus that there was already a track on the property although it wasn’t ideal for the standardbreds.
“When we left to go to Longford, Kent stayed and trained a satellite stable from Cuckoo assisted by Albert Davis as his right-hand man,” said Wayne.
A fresh-faced Michael Laugher was another to work for Wayne when he left school. Laugher drove plenty of winners in his time at Karalta Stables and has since gone on to be a very successful trainer in his own right.
John Prosser was another great horseman who learned most of his craft from the old trainers back in the Elphin days.
“His wealth of knowledge is something that you will be lucky to find anywhere today, I would just sit there and take everything in when we sat around having a cuppa for morning tea,” Wayne remembered.
Prosser was also trainer of Thorate who will go down as one of Tasmania’s finest pacers.
Soon after purchasing the property at Longford the chance came up to purchase the property next door, so Wayne and Gaye jumped at the opportunity. That enabled Kent and his wife Jodie to move in next door and Kent could take up his role as assistant trainer to Wayne after they sold the family property at Cuckoo.
The late Leigh Plunkett.
With the stable becoming just about the biggest in the state the Rattray’s had some very good help come through the gates none bigger than the late Leigh Plunkett.
“Leigh ended up becoming the stable driver back in those days and drove plenty of winners.
“We gained a lot of knowledge by having him at the stables just as he would’ve learned a lot from being there with us.
“Leigh was a lifetime friend who was taken way too soon,” Wayne said.
The Rattray’s had many helping hands come through their stables including Leigh Watts, Tania Turner, Lisa Jones, Brendan Pursell, Helen Preston, Eric Fitzmaurice, Andrew Arnott and Ben Plunkett.
Wayne always thought Ben would follow in his father footsteps, but he chose a different career path and in recent years became a steward.
Andrew Arnott went on to become Wayne’s right-hand man after Kent decided to move back to the north-east with his wife and set up his own training complex.
“Andrew was a very gifted horseman. He drove Admiral Karalta to win the Tasmanian Derby for me along with plenty of other winners.
“When Barrie came back to take up residency at Longford, I decided I wanted a bit of a break and Andrew stayed and worked for Barrie for plenty of years,” Wayne said.
Wayne decided to come back as a trainer and chose a property at Bridport and that’s when Karalta Jet burst onto the scene and gave him plenty of fun.
Andrew did venture out on occasions to give a helping hand so it’s fair to say that he was very important to the success the Rattray’s have enjoyed.
Karalta Gift – the horse that sent Wayne on his way
A close friend of Wayne’s in Roy Junor gave the tip about a stallion named Steel Byrd producing plenty of winners in New South Wales which prompted a call from Wayne to the studmaster.
“I rang Charlie Dixon to pick one out which we would buy, so he did that and sent him to Victoria first before arriving in Tasmania but on his travels he must have hurt himself as he had a huge dent on his head when he arrived,” recalled Wayne.
Charlie had heard that the horse didn’t travel the best and told Wayne that he owed him one whenever he wanted to take up his offer.
Charlie Dixon’s stud was out at Canowindra in country NSW and he rang Wayne 12 months later facing a drought, which is when Wayne picked one out of a Raider Frost mare by Armbro Unitas that would ultimately be called Karalta Gift.
Barrie Rattray was in Melbourne at the time and inspected the horse for his father and told Wayne he had plenty of leg but very light on as was to be expected from the drought.
When the horse arrived, they quickly learned they may have a good one.
“He arrived and I gave him to a friend at Scottsdale to break in. Four weeks had passed, and he rang me to come and watch him bowl around as he was the best he’s ever broken in,” laughed Wayne as it wasn’t the first time he had heard such a claim.
“So, I took in one of my racehorses and Karalta Gift brained him and I couldn’t believe it so I thought he may be right,” Wayne said.
Karalta Gift faced the starter for the first time in Hobart and word had spread around that he was a gifted pacer and people had nicknamed him the Flying Flea.
“I can remember arriving on track and a fellow trainer Trevor Jones came straight up to me and wanted to have a look and see what all the fuss was about,” Wayne said.
Karalta Gift wins a heat of the 1988 Inter Dominion.
As the race unfolded Karalta Gift lived up to all expectations to win easily from stablemate Karalta Khan.
After that result Wayne decided to send him over to New South Wales.
He went on to compete with plenty of distinction under the care of Darren Binskin and after some good form at Harold Park they decided to have a crack at the 1986 Inter Dominion in Queensland.
“He had built a bit of a picket fence at Harold Park so we were going into the series with a live chance,” Wayne remembered.
“The first round of heats came around and he was up against Vin Knight’s star performer Bag Limit, but we were too good,” Wayne said.
Four days later in the second heat Karalta Gift again proved too strong, this time over local star Wondai’s Mate.
When Karalta Gift fronted up for the third and final heat three nights later, Wayne knew they had enough points to make the final, but he still ran a gallant second behind the very smart Victorian pacer Vanderport.
West Australian superstar Village Kid trained by Bill Horn and driven by Chris Lewis was the clear favourite for the Final.
As the race unfolded, he proved a class above and won very easily with Karalta Gift far from disgraced running a game fourth only beaten just over a metre from second.
It was a huge performance for a horse that came from a drought-stricken town in country New South Wales to run as well as he did in the biggest race on the harness racing calendar.