Long-time trainer Bob Elliott. Picture: DAVE TEASE
Bob Elliott has seen and done more than most.
When you first set foot on a racetrack before you're 10, it's usually the case.
Now 77 years later the man they call "Cobber" can proudly say he has lived to see the 100-year anniversary of racing at Kembla Grange.
He won't make it out to the track today. His health has played a part. But his mind remains as sharp as ever.
He's happy to talk about the more than 50 years he trained standardbreds and thoroughbreds out of the Wollongong track.
Including the time he saddled up 100-1 shot Decency to be his first ever runner at Randwick. The horse "walked in" and a well-executed series of bets from Elliott and his friend, who had sent the horse to him from New Zealand, had renowned bagman Bill Waterhouse shaking.
"He [Elliott's friend] had £1000 on it. Tommy Smith had an odds-on favourite in the race.
"He [Elliott's friend] had to wait a fortnight for his money and he had to go to the AJC [Australian Jockey Club] to tell them he hadn't been paid off. They told Waterhouse he had to have a week off."
It wasn't the only time Cobber sprung a surprise at metropolitan races - in fact it was just one of three 100-1 winners he prepared in town throughout his career.
Among Elliott's favourite gallopers were Che Cherie, Humble Sovereign, High Adventure, Mr Exclusive and Group 2 winner Torpedo Kid.
His talent was not confined to the training ranks and he once rode nine winners from nine rides at a picnic race carnival.
And there were his formative years in harness racing at Kembla where a top-liner saw the money roll in.
"I had a champion horse I bred and his name was Tense Ayr," Elliott recalled. "Boy was he a good horse. He just won and won.
Times have changed though and Cobber, who for a time used to have the Kembla track to himself, knows it.
"There was nothing like a lady trainer when I was out there [all those years ago]," he said. "They got into the swing of it and I take my hat off to them because they're making a go of it."
