North Queensland racing icon Tom Hedley to cut back on huge orange army: ‘It’s actually embarrassing’

Tom Hedley’s army of orange horses has swelled to 100-plus and he has more than 40 running at his hometown Cairns Amateurs carnival – but it is set to be his last at that level, with big cutbacks looming.

Tom Hedley may have North Queensland’s equivalent of Godolphin’s Blue Army, but the property tycoon says it may not be for much longer.

Hedley’s bright orange “H” silks are synonymous with racing in North Queensland, but said he is looking to cut back as his team of horses swells to more than 100.

The renowned Cairns-based businessman has achieved it all when it comes to North Queensland racing, to the point where he has nowhere left to keep his trophies.

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Looking to take down the Brisbane-trained Mahagoni in the Cairns Amateurs Cup (2100m) at Ladbrokes Cannon Park on Saturday, Hedley has a three-pronged team in the $150,000 feature.

With 42 runners over the two-day carnival, Hedley said it will more than likely be his last with that amount.

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“Too many of the bastards,” a frank Hedley said.

“It’s actually embarrassing, I had a look at it the other day and I said no more after this (carnival).

“I have too many of them, it is too hard managing them all, they end up racing against each other all the time, especially because we really only race them locally.

“We are attacking ourselves all the time, which we don’t need to be doing.

“Everyone’s getting an earn, but we need to have a look at it and re-evaluate because there’s too many in the area.

“It is a bit scary when the bills keep coming in.”

Tom Hedley has won every major race in North Queensland. Picture: Brendan Radke

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Few have had as much fun in racing as Hedley, who even managed to win a Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap with Tyzone in 2020 and came close at the top level with warhorse The Harrovian.

“I will reassess it all, I have had a bloody good time doing it,” he said.

“I’ve been trying to find another Tyzone which has been pretty lonely.

“It has been good to me, but we will have a real good look at it.

“I have no more room for trophies, I have to give them away to people now, I wish you could feed the horses with them instead.”

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Hedley joined forces with fellow Cairns-based businessman and property developer Darren Halpin in buying into horses with the likes of Gai Waterhouse and Chris Waller, even daring to dream of Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup glory.

He needed no reminding as to the difficulty of finding fast horses, however, saying it was a sobering experience.

“I have probably 10 big-price horses with Gai with Darren (Halpin) and we had one in (on Wednesday), a three-year-old that ran last,” he laughed.

“I’m still in Hoo Ya Mal, it is probably the best hope of the lot of them.”

Originally published as North Queensland racing icon Tom Hedley to cut back on huge orange army: ‘It’s actually embarrassing’