The Good Lord

BY KRISTEN MANNING

“We used to call him the Good Lord,” said close friend, race caller Darren McAullay who is one of many to have had their lives touched by this “unique, lovely human being.” In his role as long serving WAROA (Western Australian Racehorse Owners Association) president and member of the Perth Racing Board, Harvey was a passionate advocate for racehorse owners and whilst representing them, he also befriended them.

There was nothing he liked more, his racing friends recall, than having a chat with fellow thoroughbred aficionados and his days at the track were busy, social ones.

“He was there every Saturday,” Darren said. “He’d come up into my box, sit on the chair in the corner and we’d have a chat. Then he would head out to mingle - and return, we’d talk for hours.”

Trainer Paul Jordan, who prepared the many successful horses syndicated and raced by Harvey, noted that “he just loved talking to people.” “When mobile phones first began to appear Harvey said ‘there is no way I will ever get one of those.’ He wasn’t keen on getting work calls whilst he was at the beach with family. But once he got one he was never off it!” “He’d be so busy on the phone at the trials that he’d only have time to give me a wave!” It was racing people he was talking to, Harvey always trying his best to keep his fellow owners informed, to involve them, to make them feel a special part of the whole racehorse ownership experience. He loved a winner as much as anyone but most of his joy was derived from sharing the fun with others. “On race day Harvey would sit and enjoy the reaction of other owners, “Paul said, “he loved to watch them jump around, smiling and laughing.” And if the opportunity was there to lead a horse in after a feature win, Harvey always passed that privilege on to another owner.

Months on and Paul is missing his frequent conversations with Harvey. “It was a rare day that we did not speak, usually it was many times a day. He was such an easy person to get on with; an honest man, a good man.” “You could not find anyone with a bad word to say about him, he was loved by everyone.” Horses were a frequent topic of the Harvey and Paul conversations and there were many terrific ones to talk about, such as Harvey’s first horse... he was lucky enough to have a share in the 1997 Western Australian Derby hero Hot Jules.

So much did Harvey enjoy that experience that an association spanning three decades ensued, he and Paul cheering on such talented gallopers as the triple stakes winner For Your Eyes Only, the Belmont Guineas winner Volition, the Colonel Reeves Stakes winner Revolition and the stakes placed gallopers Saxon Palace, Coruscation and Passion Cantata.

A two times Group Three placed four times winner, Clarecastle was Harvey’s favourite mare and she provided further joy producing the stakes placed metropolitan winners Specialism and Royal Strata. And there will be plenty cheering on her next runner, her War Chant two-year-old daughter beautifully and aptly named Harvey’s Angel. The multiple city winners Chinetti, Dusty Storm, Lacida, Fire And Rain, Cognac and Our Time Will Come are also amongst those who raced in the familiar maroon and gold colours of the Lima syndicates. And rarely did Harvey miss them race, a man who not only wanted to race horses - but to be there for each step of their careers.

And he encouraged others to do so, in a TAB Radio interview a few years back noting that promoting racehorse ownership was not enough, that the industry needed to focus also on making sure owners turned up on race day. He loved the atmosphere, and he wanted others to as well.

The W.S Cox Plate was Harvey’s favourite interstate race meeting and each year he hosted a tour of Western Australian racing enthusiasts, along the way making and maintaining many Victorian friendships. Again it was not only about watching great horses, but sharing that experience, Harvey telling TAB Radio that he so enjoyed “appreciating great racing with kindred spirits.” Harvey’s favourite local race meeting was Railway Stakes Day, his favourite race the 2008 Winterbottom Stakes; that stirring battle between Takeover Target and Apache Cat... “that was unbelievable,” he said. “I was very fortunate to be in the callers box with Darren, it was his best ever call.”

During his reign at WAROA Harvey achieved much, including the running and promotion of the association’s annual Racing Awards dinner. “He really made that function,” Paul Jordan said. “He got sponsors involved which made the association financial and therefore more powerful. It is such a popular night now, it is always packed and that is down to Harvey.” It was in his role as WAROA executive officer that Darren McAullay met Harvey, the pair quickly discovering that they had much in common. “We met at my first meeting and struck up an immediate friendship,” Darren said. “Harvey became very much a mentor and a father figure to me,” he added, still amazed by a coincidence that had its roots in the beginnings of his calling career decades earlier. “When I first started broadcasting at the Richmond Raceway the curator - one of the kindest men you would meet - took me under his wing.” A man with a rich history of harness racing involvement, who had trained some good ones including the home-bred Yerilla Court (20 wins, second to Pure Steel in the 1975 WA Derby), his name was Norm Crossman. Harvey’s dad. Who lived with his family on course, introducing Harvey to the pacing and trotting world, an interest that later flowed onto thoroughbreds. “And so the two great influences in my racing life were father and son,” said Darren.

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Darren is full of admiration for Harvey’s many achievements at WAROA, many were not recognised during his life time; “so much of what he set about to do, he did quietly.” Jokingly referring to Harvey as “the Henry Kissinger of racing,” Darren noted what a great negotiator and mediator he was, able to unite those with opposing views... “he was caring, clever and effective.” And “old-school,” hand delivering the invitations to the WAROA Awards Night “just so that he could have a conversation with every one.” Current Australian Jockeys Association President Craig Staples is another who credits Harvey with caring mentorship. “He was an inspiration, providing me with the stepping stones I needed when I needed them.”

It was whilst riding for the Paul Jordan stable that Craig first came to know Harvey and it was to Harvey he turned when he was not happy with how jockeys were being represented in Western Australia. “I never thought I had it in me to run the local jockeys association, I was in fact very nervous! But Harvey gave me guidance and confidence.” “He was only ever a phone call away, I was very lucky to have him in my life, I only wish he still was.” The Western Australian Jockeys Association President since 2009, just recently taking over from the retiring Des O’Keefe as leader of the national body, Craig reiterated Darren McAullay’s words - “Harvey was a great mediator. He had a way of going about things without causing any conflict, he was able to unite people in an industry that is so often disunited.” Aside from his obvious love for, and dedication to, his family - his wife Mina (who he would affectionately refer to as ‘my Sophia Loren’), his children Lisa and Mark (after whom his Lima syndicates were named) and his grandchildren - Harvey lived for racing. “It was his world,” Darren said, “he was totally immersed in it.”

And whilst his family did not share his level of passion, it is rather nice that one of the last horses he syndicated has Mina as a part-owner; the promising juvenile Six Carat who shot through along the rails to record an exciting victory at just her second start at Ascot in early November.

Harvey had racing friends across the country, such as Racing Victoria’s Greg Carpenter who “had the pleasure of knowing Harvey well. He had an enormous passion for racing, in particular for WA racing and its participants. He gave invaluable service to Perth racing, to WAROA and to the national owners body.”

And Diane Stampalia, a WAROA committee member for six years of Harvey’s presidentship... “I was fortunate enough to travel to many meetings with Harvey from Esperance to Port Hedland and many in between - all in the pursuit of recruiting membership for WAROA.”

“He was a down to earth gentleman whose knowledge and passion for racing was legendary. So many will miss his friendly, smiling face on racecourses all over Western Australia.”

The Melbourne Racing Club’s Josh Rodder, who spent time working in Perth along with his jockey wife Talia, remembers Harvey as a man “who had such impact on us in a short time.”

“He was wonderful human; warm, caring, humble and empathetic. Qualities I so admire in anyone I meet.”

“From the first time I met Harvey, I admired his passion for the sport of horse racing and he quickly became a sounding board for me as a newly settled West Aussie.”

“He loved the horses and all the participants involved in caring for them. He dedicated his time to racing, whether it be breeding, racing or buying yearlings from the sale and his bond with Paul Jordan is the strongest I have seen between owner and trainer.”

“They had so many thrills on the track, but didn’t choose to go it alone; they shared their successful racing partnership and journey with so many owners from all walks of life, bringing good people together to enable so many racing dreams.”

“The glowing maroon and gold colours of Harvey Crossman shine bright in my mind when I think of my special time in Western Australia and we will always treasure the quality time we spent with Harvey both at the track and away from the track.” n