sporting hero
the silk road She’s Bendigo horse racing royalty, but the tag doesn’t come without the work, the guts, the bruises, and sometimes, the glory. - Curt Dupriez What do you do on Bendigo Cup day? Is it a hazy recollection of broken heels, blisters, tipsy faux pars and sunstroke wrapped in a morning after hangover? For Keith and Elaine Rawiller, the 2007 event became a celebration of a huge family milestone. Three of their four children – jockeys Nash, Brad and their youngest, Stacey – rode winners in their home town’s biggest racing event. This family trifecta surprised few in the racing community – the Rawillers are racing legends far beyond Bendigo’s boundaries. “Nash (now 34) and Brad (now 30) are both extremely successful,” Stacey says. “They’re regarded as two of the best jockeys in Australia. Nash has won the Caulfield Cup and Dubai Duty Free, and rides for Gai Waterhouse in Sydney. Last season, Brad broke the record for the most wins in Victoria: about 216 winners.” For little sister Stacey, then an 18-year-old apprentice jockey, the event marked a coming of age, a step further out from the formidable shadow cast by her older siblings. Stacey, now 21, grew up in White Hills and Huntly, after her parents and brothers – including Todd (32), now a top local horse trainer – moved to Bendigo from Castlemaine. Keith was once a racing jackof-all-trades: trotters, pacers, both flat and jump jockeying. “He’s the only person to ever drive and ride winners in Melbourne on the flat and over jumps,” she beams. Her father now works as a repairman for V-Line while helping Todd out with his horses. Elaine, meanwhile, is a registered nurse at the Anne Caudle Centre. “Mum has no horse involvement, apart from being our biggest fan.” Given the family heritage, you might expect Stacey’s path to being a jockey was a foregone conclusion. And easy. And you’d be wrong. “I didn’t get into riding ponies until I was eight. Riding wasn’t something forced on me. But once I started pony club I never looked back.” Stacey began helping Todd at his Bendigo stables when she was about 11, learning the ropes. “I put in a lot of hard yards before I even sat on a race horse, and even that opportunity required a lot of begging. He really tried discouraging me from riding race horses. I discovered why. Once I started to learn what was really involved in becoming a jockey, I began to wonder if I really had what it took to do it.” Stacey’s rite of passage to a jockey apprenticeship was a lot of grind and very little glamour. Being a stable hand meant 4am starts and “years and years of mucking out boxes, filling waters buckets and having Todd try to toughen me up. I used to cry at the drop of a hat, but he drummed that out of me. If I wanted to work in an extremely cut-throat industry I had to learn to be mature beyond my years.” School was “pretty normal,” she says. But that all changed when, after completing Year 11 at Bendigo Senior Secondary College and just one week before Year 12 commenced, Stacey began her apprenticeship, in Bendigo, under Todd’s tutelage. Her brother’s a hard task master. There were no illusions. This was no free ride. “You can’t afford to live like a normal teenager (as an apprentice). If you’re worried about
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going out every weekend you’re wasting your time. It’s 100 per cent focus and dedication, or nothing. “Todd is one of my biggest mentors. He taught me everything I know about horses, and keeps me grounded and switched on. He was an apprentice jockey as a teenager, but only rode for 18 months. He grew too tall. He’s about six foot now. Weight got the better of him.” Though Stacey continues her apprenticeship with trainer Alicia MacPherson, in Kilmore, she returns home to Bendigo every Tuesday, riding track work for her brother. “Bendigo is a fantastic place to start out because there are a lot of trainers and horses here. The Bendigo Jockey Club does a great job with the track and its race meetings are very astute. There are a lot of opportunities for a jockey in Bendigo. The successes of local jockeys such as Wayne Hokai prove it.” Stacey’s first race outing was at Echuca in May 2006, on a horse owned by her parents and trained by her brother. “It was very slow,” she laughs. “We finished last.” But a maiden victory would come soon enough. She rode Norm’s Boy over the line in first place in a race in Mildura just one month later. “My first winner was so exciting. I actually couldn’t believe it when I was in front at the post – I thought it was some kind of mistake. It was a dream come true. My first three winners were on Norm’s Boy. He was very good to me.” Stacey has now ridden winners – 39 wins in all – in regional Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia. And despite this success, she’s yet to break into the Big Time: the lucrative and highly competitive Victorian metropolitan racing scene. “I’m still trying to prove myself. It’s taken my brothers 15 years to get where they are today. They’ve worked hard for it, and continue to do so. And I’m hoping to follow their footsteps. It’s a hard industry for everyone involved. You have your ups and downs, knock backs and put downs. But then you ride a winner and people tell you how well you’re going, and everyone wants you on their horses. A couple of times I’ve had to get away from riding for a few months and be ‘normal’ for a bit. I’ve dealt with depression and thought of giving it away and going back to school. I’ve always come back, though. I just love it too much.” Stacey’s biggest win to date was the Dunkeld Cup, in 2007, on a horse named Bottle. Ask of her favourite moment in racing and she’s torn between two events, in neither of which she was riding. “It’s either Nash winning the Caulfield Cup in 2004, or Brad winning the Golden Slipper this year,” she beams with pride. Her all-time favourite win in the saddle? Too easy. “It was on a horse called Aliancer,” she says, “trained by a good friend and mentor George Evagora. It was only an outside chance for this win, too.” You also might remember it, a couple of years ago, through a fog of champagne and sunstroke... ■