‘Can train … and can sing’: Mick Bell is the horse trainer with a hard rock edge

Racing tosses up some unique characters and few more so than Mick Bell – the man who sweats at the stables by day and sings for his supper by night. Just don’t mention the day he was dumped for race five at Donald | WATCH THE VIDEO

Racing tosses up some unique characters and few more so than Mick Bell – the man who sweats at the stables and can sing for his supper.

The larrikin horse trainer is best known in racing circles for his feats with remarkable mudlark Jungle Edge, who improved many lengths when the rain started to tumble.

But away from the track, the mild-mannered Bell can morph into Jimmy Barnes, Rod Stewart or Angus Young of AC/DC fame.

Victorian Bell is currently working for Group 1 winning star trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jr, who have been blown away by his musical talents.

“My voice is gravelly, so it really suits 1970s stuff with a hard rock edge,” Bell chuckles.

Mick Bell. Picture: Grant Peters / Trackside Photography.

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“I have played in a couple of AC/DC cover bands and I can cover Jimmy Barnes or Rod Stewart, and plenty of top 40 sort of stuff.

“For a lot of my life, I’ve been like a weekend warrior. I’ve never given up my day job in racing, but for a good couple of decades I played in bands and did gigs at pubs and parties.

“I liken my musical ability to golf. If you play golf off a handicap of about three or four, then you are a pretty good golfer but you are not a professional.

“In golfing terms, I reckon I sing and play guitar off about one or two.”

Price agrees – saying Bell “plays guitar like Jimi Hendrix, can sing and can train.”

Larrikin trainer Mick Bell. Picture: AAP

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At age 63, Bell isn’t as active as he once was with rock gigs but still finds plenty of time to indulge his musical bent.

He performed at the Cranbourne Turf Club racing awards and was called on to sing the national anthem before the running of the Cranbourne Cup.

“It was live on tele, but then I got dumped for Donald race five,” Bell quipped.

“It wasn’t ideal because I had my Mum and Dad sitting in front of their TV ready to watch me sing live.

“These days, I’m more likely to perform at parties than in bands. If someone is having a barbecue or a party, I will take my guitar along and knock out a few tunes and entertain people.

“That’s why I have got a croaky voice at the moment – last week I got invited to a barbecue at some racing stables in Queensland.

“I take a look at the crowd and try to work out what songs they would like.

“When I was young, my three loves were horse racing, football and music and I did a little bit of all three.

“When I was in my 30s, my younger brother became a professional musician and I got influenced by him.

“I would ring him up and ask how you played certain songs.

“Then I joined a garage band and I found out by accident I could sing pretty well.”

Mick Bell’s former star Jungle Edge. Picture: Getty Images.

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Bell has spent time in Queensland recently, being the travelling front man for Price and Kent Jr’s team of winter carnival horses in the Sunshine State.

Bell said it was a no-brainer to go to work for the Group 1 Victorian training team, given his own training business had been losing money every year since the Jungle Edge days.

Bell will still have a trainer’s licence in the new season but plans to have only a few runners and is moving towards winding up his business.

“Jungle Edge allowed me to have a bit of a crack at training for a living – but you really have got to be a big trainer or probably get out,” Bell said.

“I was losing money each year and I had to make the decision to stop.

"They've offered me a permanent position and I'm going to jump at it."

Great to see Mick Bell, who famously trained fan-favourite Jungle Edge. Bell has recently joined the @MickPriceRacing stable. 🤝 pic.twitter.com/BDT88rc7VT

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) June 22, 2024

“But out of bad things come good things. If I hadn’t have been struggling, I wouldn’t have got this current job.

“I asked (Michael Kent) Junior if he would have a job for me in three months’ time and they had a job for me the following week.

“I am enjoying working with really good horses.

“I am going to take out my licence in the new season, but it’s just to finish everything up so I am basically winding things up.

“In the next few months, I might have some runners in my own name but not after that.”

Trainer Mick Bell performs a tribute to his much loved horse Jungle Edge.@Jungle_Edgepic.twitter.com/yO5qYsf9Df

— Nick Quinn (@Quinny_1) May 12, 2020

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Price and Kent Jr scored a Group 1 during the Queensland winter carnival with the stunning romp of Warmonger in the Queensland Derby propelling the galloper to near the top of Caulfield and Melbourne Cup betting markets.

They will round out their Queensland carnival mission on Saturday with Sunshine Coast runners including noted wet tracker Hezashocka who is $8 into $3.20 favourite in the Listed Caloundra Cup (2400m).

Originally published as ‘Can train … and can sing’: Mick Bell is the horse trainer with a hard rock edge