Peter Manning has won many of the biggest races in Australasian harness racing, but at Moonee Valley on Saturday night he received an accolade of a different sort.
The master Great Western trainer was crowned the 2007 Gordon Rothacker Medallist.
Named in honour of the man who won 14 Melbourne Drivers’ Premierships and 10 Melbourne Trainers’ Premierships, the Rothacker Medal recognises those who have had an outstanding contribution to harness racing over a sustained period of time.
Manning was stunned at joining Ian McCallum, Geoff Hill, Jim Barker, Ron Pocock and last year’s winner Matt Donaldson on the Rothacker Medal honour roll.
“This is a huge shock and it makes me really proud to have won an award like this,” Manning said.
Manning is one of Australian harness racing’s enduring trainers.
In the 30 years he has had his licence he has revolutionised thinking on how best to train horses, particularly youngsters and trotters.
Among the champions to have passed through his stable are Australian Trotters of the Year Knight Pistol (1997 and 1999) and Sammy Do Good (2005), and Australian 2YO of the Year winners Sheza Mona (1996), Greek Gambit (1998), Pelicanrama (1999) and Kathryn Dancer (2003).
He created headlines worldwide in 1997 when he took Knight Pistol from bush battler to superstar, winning the Group 1 Harley Davidson Trot in Norway.
Manning is a four-time winner of the Victorian Trainers’ Premiership, has three Metropolitan Trainers’ titles to his name, a couple of Vin Knight Medals around his neck and in 1999/2000 set an Australasian record for most winners trained in a season.
Since the 1980/81 season, Manning has trained almost 1800 winners – including 100 or more in each of the past nine seasons – for more than $11 million in prizemoney.
But Manning’s influence on Australian harness racing goes beyond how many winners he has trained or driven. The three daughters he shares with devoted wife Barb - Donna, Michelle and Kerryn - all maintain some level of interest in harness racing.
While champion driver Kerryn is the best known through her world record breaking deeds, Michelle is carving her niche as a quality trainer and took out this year’s Most Improved Trainer award, while Donna maintains her hand as a trainer with a small team.
Saturday night’s ceremony was also where the outstanding performers of the 2006/07 season came in for recognition.
Once again the Ballarat and District Trotting Club featured prominently. It was crowned the Country Club of the Year for the second year running and also took out the Best Local Media Coverage award.
Shepparton Harness Racing Club also picked up a couple of awards. It’s 2007 Cup meeting was deemed the best of last season, while it also took out the Best Presented Venue award.
Tireless Maryborough secretary Les Chapman was crowned the Frank Ryan Secretary of the Year, Ouyen’s Geoff Kay took out the Part-Time Secretary of the Year award, with Dianne Linsell of Sebastian claiming the Graduation Secretary of the Year title.
The fill list of award winners are:
Gordon Rothacker Medallist – Peter Manning
HROA Victorian Owner of the Year – Craven Family Syndicate
Country Club of the Year (More than 12 meetings) – Ballarat
Country Club of the Year (12 or less meetings) – Stawell
Country Club of the Year (Graduation) – Kyabram
Frank Ryan Secretary of the Year (Full Time) – Les Chapman (Maryborough)
Secretary of the Year (Part-Time) – Geoff Kay (Ouyen)
Secretary of the Year (Graduation) – Dianne Linsell (Sebastian)
Best Country Cup Meeting – Shepparton
Best Local Media Coverage – Ballarat
Best Presented Venue – Shepparton
Best On-Course Promotion – Nyah (Community Cats Camp)
The ceremony also carried the announcement of which country club had been chosen to host next year’s Australasian Breeders Crown finals.
The series, which will culminate with Australia’s richest country raceday of any code next August, will return to Bendigo, the venue that first hosted the series from 1997 until 2004.
