Exclusive: Melbourne Cup winner Greg Hall back in racing with surprise new Sunshine Coast role

Legendary jockey Greg Hall has experienced the highs and lows of racing, and has taken up a surprise role at a Sunshine Coast stable as he looks to reconnect to the sport he loves.

Greg Hall is back working in racing on the Sunshine Coast. Picture: Wayne Ludbey.

Legendary jockey Greg Hall is back working in racing in a surprise new role on the Sunshine Coast as he looks to reconnect to the sport he loves the most.

The Melbourne Cup winner has spoken openly about the highs and lows of his career, which ultimately left him with nothing, however he is looking for a fresh start working for close friends John Symons and Sheila Laxon.

Hall last week travelled to the Sunshine Coast for a “holiday”, but wants to see how far his new job can take him as he looks to set up in Queensland.

“I need to get back to the horses, Melbourne is freezing, there is no pressure up here,” Hall told Racenet.

“I’m trying to get my strappers license, so we are ticking all the boxes which I think we have done.

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“It will be good to get back around the stables, it’s where I belong and it’s where I grew up as a kid.

“It will be good to saddle up some horses for trackwork riders, muck out some boxes, hose the horses down, give them a roll, all the stuff I have done since I was eight-years-old, I know it backwards and come from a huge racing family.

“My Dad was a jockey, he had four brothers who were jockeys, sisters who married jockeys, my brother was a jockey, I was a jockey and my son was a jockey.

“People ask me how I became a jockey, I tell them that story and they just laugh.”

In a friendship that goes back four decades, Hall said the opportunity came about on Facebook, with Laxon, a Melbourne and Caulfield Cup winner in her own right, originally thinking the famously cheeky jockey was joking.

* EXCLUSIVE – PART ONE: Greg Hall on losing everything, suicide, addiction and fighting back

* EXCLUSIVE — PART TWO: Greg Hall’s $300,000 ‘sling’ and decades of family heartache

Greg Hall is looking to set up on the Sunshine Coast. Picture: AAP Image — Julian Smith.

Greg Hall after winning the 1992 Melbourne Cup on Subzero.

“I was on Facebook and Sheila Laxon is a mate of mine and has been for a long time,” Hall said.

“She posted on there that she was looking for staff, so I messaged her back saying ‘I’m in, I’d love to come up.’ She didn’t know I was serious, she messaged back saying ‘you don’t need an interview, you have the job.’

“I asked her if she needed my resume, so I rang her and got talking and said ‘I’m serious, I need to get out of Melbourne.’

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“She spoke to John about it and he rang me and said ‘come up for a holiday.’

“So I got up on Thursday and had a look around, it turns out I rode the first trial at this track before they even started racing on it.”

The stable is set to try and win their hometown cup next week with Knight’s Choice, who bounced back to form with a flashing second placing in the $1.2m Q22 a week ago at Eagle Farm.

The gelding will run in the Listed Caloundra Cup (2400m), before a potential spring campaign targeting the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.

Hall and Super Impose win the 1992 Cox Plate.

Subzero winning the 1992 Melbourne Cup for Hall.

"Which horse made you fall in love with racing?"

Hands up for Super Impose... 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️

What a finish to the 1992 @CoxPlate.#LoveTheHorsepic.twitter.com/QBaxHoOEVb

— Racing.com (@Racing) June 25, 2020

The 1992 Melbourne Cup belonged to one of racing's greatest ambassadors, Subzero. 🏆 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/293OyHrKdR

— Racing.com (@Racing) August 29, 2020

Originally published as Exclusive: Melbourne Cup winner Greg Hall back in racing with surprise new Sunshine Coast role