To say racing has been cruel to former harness horseman, and now quadriplegic - Jim Webb, is probably the biggest understatement you will ever hear.
But every so often a little ray of sunshine enters into the ever-positive 68-year-old- owner/breeder’s life.
For example, eight weeks ago, his first grand-daughter, Nora, was born, and then on Monday (January 20) at the Goulburn Paceway, potentially the best standardbred the Webb family have owned and bred won race one, in a slashing 1:54 mile-rate.
The Dennis Day trained-and-driven, Raised The Bar, justified his $2.80 favouritism with an emphatic 6.5-metre victory. In fact, the win was so convincing the Warrawee Needy colt's time of 2:01.2 was just 0.2 of a second outside the three-year-old colts and geldings 1:53.8 track record mile rate.
Day has also been the President of the Goulburn Harness Racing Club for the past 20 years. He was treasurer before and undertakes and coordinates the track maintenance.
“Dennis has done a great job with this 3-year-old, his training establishment is just opposite the Goulburn track. The colt really picked up his legs on Monday”.
“It’s sad that Dad (Jack) isn’t still around to watch this horse, because up until now he’d be one of the best horses that our family has produced,” Webb said.
His father was a former committee man at Goulburn and the track played a special part in his life. Webb said his dad trained the mother of Raised the Bar - Sasha Sasha - at Goulburn. His Mum (Julie) is a spritely 95 and she and her husband were installed as Life Members by the Club.
It was Raised the Bar’s first triumph in three starts.
“Monday’s win certainly put a smile on the dial. This horse is right up there with the best the family has owned or bred. Raised The Bar has an exciting future alright. Sadly, I couldn’t get to see him race, as I reside at Ferguson Lodge in Lidcombe” (15km from Sydney and 156km from Goulburn).
Ferguson Lodge, a care facility for people with spinal cord injuries, is also just a ‘stone’s throw’ from the Webb family home and former racing stable at Auburn. Webb has been residing at the Lodge since March 2024 – nine years after the worst year of his life.
“On January 6, 2015, I got a call from Yirribee Stud that dad's 2008 Real Desire mare, Sasha Sasha, had tested positive to River Khan. Arriving 10.30am at Canberra Hospital I informed my father who responded: ‘That’s good son’. That was the last time he called me ‘son’. Sadly, Dad passed away at 5.50pm that night, aged 86 from undiagnosed stomach cancer.
"That foal, the first of three out of the mare, we named Jacks Last Hoo Raa. The gelding has now won 15 races so far ($114,769) for Wagga friend, Len Clement, who also trains and leases him. He actually finished fourth at Junee on Tuesday (January 21),” Webb said.
"Jacks Last Hoo Raa, nicknamed ‘Wayward Webby’ has recorded a 1:55.8 mile-rate, and now foal three, Raised the Bar, has gone quicker after just three starts. I only recently found out the mare is back in foal again to Warrawee Needy,” so things are looking on the up,” he added.
Webb said his father was a hobby horseman, who broke in horses, educated them, and also trained at the Bankstown Paceway just 8km from the Webb family stables at Auburn.
“Dad and Mum retired to a small property at Marulan, north of Goulburn where the horses were race-readied for myself or Dennis Day.”
Six months after losing his father, Webb experienced the worst day in his life when the then 58-year-old broke his neck in an early morning training accident at Bankstown, on June 14, 2015.
“I was warming up a four-year-old mare on the jogging track, around daybreak when the accident happened. A loud noise from a nearby industrial site, really fired her up”.
“She spun around infield colliding with a huge light pole, bucking, kicking and then leaping forward. Unfortunately, the hopples dropped below her knees dragging her front legs under. She went down and I was catapulted head-first into the ground - driving my head back between my shoulders”.
“I was taken to Liverpool Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. My wife, Therese, was advised to expect the worst. Later that day I was transferred to Prince of Wales Hospital, and if I survived the trip, they were ready to operate”.
“I should have died that day, but somehow lived through it. To cut a long story short I’m now classified as ‘Quadriplegia Incomplete’,” Webb said.
“After that I turned all my harness racing focus to breeding and owning standardbreds,” he added.
‘Quadriplegia Incomplete’, is the weakness or paralysis of all four limbs. Depending on the severity of the spinal cord injury, individuals like Webb have residual movement, but about 47 per cent of all spinal cord injuries result in ‘Incomplete Quadriplegia’, making it the most common type of spinal cord injury.
“I can use a high forearm walker, which is controlled by using my arms to steer. I again beat the odds and can now walk a short distance every day. Without my wife, Therese, and family, life would be a lot worse. Therese has been amazing throughout. She has always been my rock”.
“While in Intensive Care, I said sorry to my wife for putting her through all of this, but she has taken it all in her stride with unconditional love. They had to take bone from my hip to create another third vertebra, which was shattered into many pieces. I’m just grateful I didn’t sever my spinal cord. It is damaged and will be for life,” Webb said.
But that’s not the only harness racing tragedy the father of three adult daughters (Emily (26), Stacey (24) and Lara (22), has been forced to confront.
“I’ve had a lot of luck in life, but most of it has been bad. We experienced 13 years of the worst drought New South Wales had seen, and then EI (equine Influenza) was also in the middle of it”.
“Then there was 2012 when one of the lowest forms of humans you could ever meet came onto my property at Marulan and shot six of our horses, four of which died”.
“Two of them – my nine-win, Big Band Sound chestnut mare In The Swing, and her un-named 2-year-old Megamind gelding, were two of the best horses I had. The 2-year-old was very smart before being deprived of what looked to be a promising racing career,” Webb said.
But trainer, Dennis Day, said if you spoke to Webb without seeing him you would never realise the tragedy he had suffered.
“I’ve known James and his father for over 30 years, as Jack used to train at Goulburn. Jim is an inspiration and it’s very sad what he’s been through, but talking with him, you would never know his body was smashed to pieces. He’s the most positive person I know”.
“I’ve never known him to whinge about being a quadriplegic. He just rolls with the punches. He always keeps in touch and never once has he been negative or down in the dumps. A few more fortunate people could take a note or two from his attitude,” Day said.
“I’m glad Raised the Bar won. It gave James a smile and something to look forward to in the future,” added the 56-year-old Group two-winning trainer and driver.
“He’s a big fella who has still got quite a bit to learn, and that’s why I’ve taken my time with him. Because of his size and mentality, we have had to wait quite a long time for him to get to the races”.
“Monday’s race was run with a quick pace and he got the run to suit after initially leading and then landing in the trail. I still want to give him plenty of time to mature into a nice racehorse and then we will see where he’s at when he takes on better company. That’s when we will see if there’s proof in the pudding,” Day said.
The high-spirited, ever-positive, Webb is also ever-caring.
“After I broke my neck, the family said they would look after me, but it got to the point that I didn’t want to put any more pressure on them and that’s why I now live in Ferguson Lodge. It’s the only spinal care facility in the Southern Hemisphere”.
“I watched Raised The Bar race on debut at Goulburn on December 30, but it took a lot of help and assistance and I didn't want to burden family and carers again this time. Maybe one day again if he gets through the grades,” Jim said.
Webb said former Harness Racing New South Wales Chairman, Rod Smith and his partner paid a ‘hefty sum’ (five figures) for Sasha Sasha at the 2010 Sydney Yearling sales”.
“Bernie Hewitt originally trained Sasha Sasha at Georges Plains, but she never wanted to be a racehorse and only won one race (33 starts). Then when the owners heard about that unsavory character shooting our horses, Sasha Sasha was offered to Dad as a future broodmare. Jacks Last Hoo Raa was the result of a December 2014 River Khan service”.
“After Jacks Last Hoo Raa was born, we decided to go to a more fashionable stallion and put her to Million Dollar Cam in December 2019. The resulting foal was a filly ironically named Heavens Gotta Wait. She is showing a lot of potential at the trials and is likely to make her race debut soon," Webb said.
Asked where he got the name Raised The Bar from, Webb, explained:
“Funny story that. When he was born, we received an email from Yirribee Stud saying she had given birth to a filly foal. We then sat around the table with family to come up with a stable name for her”.
“As previously mentioned, we chose a better bred (and more expensive) stallion each time Sasha Sasha went to stud hopeful of breeding a better class of racehorse. ‘Hope’ being a girl’s name, so we all agreed on that as her stable name”.
“’Hope’ it was until we received the paperwork from the Authority which had the foal marked down as a colt. A quick call to Yirribee confirmed the foal was definitely a colt. Dilemma time. Therese said he’s still our ‘Big Hope’ so that is still his stable name to this day”.
“As for his racing name, as stated, each time we put our hand in our pocket we paid more for a better credentialled stallion, and in doing so we RAISED THE BAR,” the inspirational man nicknamed ‘Webby’ said.
