Lloyd Kennewell’s departure from SA racing part of slow, sad decline of sport that once dominated

It’s a truly exhilarating sport that once made household names of its protaganists – but thoroughbred racing in South Australia is fading as the industry battles on despite ever shrinking resources.

Trainer, Richard Jolly at his Morphettville stables, with Karlovasi. Picture: AAP Image/Dean Martin

• Kennewell to close Adelaide stable at Morphettville
• Double hit for SA racing in 2019

My grandmother’s house in Smith St, West Brunswick, overlooked the Moonee Valley racecourse.

In those days the Tullamarine Freeway had not yet been built, so, as a kid, it was easy to run down the hill, cross the road and slip under the fence surrounding the racecourse.

You could hide where the track sloped away from the outer rail on a part of the course that was furthest from the finishing post.

Facedown and breathless as the two stewards, resplendent in their scarlet jackets, mounted on beautifully groomed horses, patrolled the track, we somehow avoided detection.

Then the races. The images and more significantly, the sounds have never left me. At ground level peering over the slight rise onto the track, the thunder of the hooves that shook the ground just metres away was both frightening and captivating; the swirl of colour mesmerizing. But it was the cacophony of the jockeys’ voices mixed in with those thundering hooves that was most surprising.

Aerial view of Moonee Valley racecourse in Melbourne.

The yelling, and indeed the swearing, added to the excitement of those stolen moments of trespass. Such moments stay with you forever. Perhaps they should have provided the inspiration and motivation to pursue a career in the horse racing industry but I’ve only ever observed it from afar.

Never an owner, never a punter - save for the trifectas at Melbourne Cup time. Yet I’ve loved the sport and watch in awe and admiration as the jockeys who ride, and the trainers who train, eke out a living in the sport they love.

Some are wonderfully talented - gifted even; others are simply lucky enough to strike it rich, but for most it’s a tough life lived by tough people.

However, the industry as we like to remember it has changed. Crowds used to flock to the suburban race-tracks. The Sunday Mail would publish photos of the home turn and the finish of each race, with little name-tags on each horse. The jockeys’ premiership race was followed as keenly as the SANFL premiership ladder. Billy Pyers, Pat Glennon, Jim Johnson were as well known as Neil Kerley, Fos Williams and Lindsay Head. For some reason Mick Goreham is one of my favourites also.

Jockey Mick Goreham unsaddling Tavel after winning the Adelaide Cup at Morphettville Racecourse in 1973.

A day at the races was as busy and as crowded as a day at a big footy match. The crush of the betting ring and the mysterious mannerisms of the bookies was almost intoxicating. And it was classy too - don’t try and get into the members’ enclosure without wearing a suit and tie! The romance of the track papered over the misery of those whose addiction to the punt ruined their lives – but they were in a minority.

That was then. Today the industry in SA is slowly withering. It may be dying. The Bay tram stops at the gates of the Morphettville racecourse but these days few people alight on a Saturday afternoon. A government, intent on balancing its budget, may have dealt the racing industry in South Australia its death-blow by reducing funding.

When a sport needs optimism, good news and resources there has been only devastation. When governments interstate see the value of committing funds to ensure their racing industries remain viable and vibrant, here in South Australia we decide that there’s no point giving money because we can’t compete with Melbourne and Sydney anyway.

No wonder top Adelaide trainer Lloyd Kennewell announced on Thursday that he was leaving to set up his business in Melbourne. Of course he’s not the first. Bart had long gone. Lindsay Park, that magnificent showcase of “CS’s” success has been sold off.

David Hayes, as wildly successful as his famous father now operates out of Ned Kelly country in Victoria. Johnny Hawkes, once so intrinsically tied to Glenelg and Morphettville now has stables at Rosehill in Sydney and Flemington in Melbourne.

Maybe a trainer can survive in Adelaide, but to flourish it seems you have to move. But what of those who want to stay? What of the people they employ? Does the government simply abandon them? Should it throw good money after bad?

If the industry employs so many people, of course a government should support it. And to a layman the solution to funding seems fairly simple. Further levy the betting agencies and the corporate bookmakers who feast on the sport - particularly those who proliferate in the nebulous world of on-line gambling. The world over, decaying industries have been re-born, revitalised. The very least our state government can do is provide optimism and inspiration. In recent weeks however, to the racing industry it has been Grinch-like – a portent of gloom and ruin.

Aerial view of Morphettville Racecourse.

A wide-eyed kid couldn’t possibly sneak onto the Moonee Valley racecourse today, however the track at Morphettville is enclosed only by chain wire fencing. Pressed against the fencing you can see and hear all the action: but the fields are smaller and somehow it’s not as exciting.

Nostalgia can seduce us and blind us to the facts of reality but surely an industry that employs so many people and can generate a return on investment deserves to be sustained. Perhaps a younger generation’s imagination is fuelled only by images and action on the small screens of their many digital devices.

It’s sad that they may never see, hear or feel the real thing.