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RIP John McNair

West Australian Racing
JayJayJayJay    8,096 posts
West Australian Racing
Passed away this morning from pancreatic cancer. A lifetime in racing.
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  • hashhash    7,495 posts
    famously known for taking over Hay List but well before those days I remember his success with the old champ in Mustard and that certainly will not be forgotten in a hurry

    RIP 

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  • JayJayJayJay    8,096 posts
    And Ears Ronny before them....and many, many others....often with quirky names...Earsago, Ears Tears, Rotton Ron (named after Ron Franklin), Jellybean Road....seems to have been around forever but only 69 years old. Was my cousin and I recall going out to Belmont one day with the family decades ago to see him win a decent race on All Legal when he was apprenticed to Colin France.....bred his own, broke his own, track worked his own along with great support from wife Sue....yes, he was "colourful" but some horseman. Was a marvel with old horses. Old Mustard was regarded as a bit of a novelty but he was a serious, serious horse.

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  • thefalconthefalcon    20,337 posts
    didn't ears ronny go very close in a big race...Sydney cup? I was living there at the time and vaguely remember it.
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  • VillageKidVillageKid    2,339 posts
    Condolences to you and the family JJ.
    John was a great trainer both here in WA and in NSW he did a remarkable job with the old warhorses Mustard and Ears Ronny amongst many many others. 
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  • JayJayJayJay    8,096 posts
    A 2nd and a 3rd I think but not entirely certain. Ronny won an awful lot of races from lots of starts and had a big kids fan club (lots of cards and letters etc when he eventually retired). Trying to remember all his prominent horses ...Mindreader, Australian Star, Mighty Obvious, Spanish Minstrel, No More Fantasy, Highpak, Sovereign Kite, Clear The Beach, Barney Rubble, Dal Rommel, Irish Jig, Miss Alibi, Warsend etc.

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  • paraleticparaletic    3,750 posts
    May he rest in peace.

    Is it true he was a west aussie?
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  • JayJayJayJay    8,096 posts
    Down to his bootstraps Para...Dad was Lew McNair (who died very young at 36), trainer stabled in Redcliffe in the 60's, Godfather was "Tiger Moore", apprenticed probably most notably to Colin France, surrogate son of Len and Mavis Pike during that time, began training in WA after weight curtailed his riding, private trainer for Stan Quinlivan and the relocated to NSW after Highpak got the Karrakatta Plate win ....recently retired and returned to WA to relax and smell the roses, alas not to be.

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  • thefalconthefalcon    20,337 posts
    great bloke, at least he passed away at home. RIP. not a bad Godfather, my uncle Frank..no relly but a great mate of my dads. I recall he told me to call him "uncle tiger"...

    JayJay likes this post.

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  • RIORIO    14,892 posts
    Best wishes to his family dealing with his passing.

    His father had all my grandparents horses and got some great results with them.... Especially out at the old Maida Vale track. John was a young man (in his teens)when his father passed away, and from passed down stories, my Grandparents owned many of the horses that were stabled there at the time.

    I've been told he was a natural horseman. It was in his blood and he dealt with horses in the same way most of us deal with walking...

    A great shame that i never got to meet him....RIP ....an important connection to my involvement in racing, even though we never met.

    JayJay likes this post.

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  • JayJayJayJay    8,096 posts
    Yes Falc, he was "uncle Tiger" to all of us when we were kids.My Grandparents lived in Orrong Road, two doors down from Bunny Hydes Stables and Uncle Lew got the bug as young fellow, spending more time at Bunny's than at school. Although he was an electrician by trade, Lew  actually rode in those old amateur "Hunt Club" races for Bunny before he ventured into training Rio's grandparents horses on a property in Redcliffe, over the road from Tiger and Joy's home.  Electrical work took a back seat to the horses. John was basically born into the horses and it was a no brainer when he began his jockey's apprenticeship. Lew was only 36 when he died and John was only about 15. Lew's wife, Aunty Sylvia, remarried Ted Sullivan, a greater gentleman you will never meet, and enjoyed the exploits of Ted's best horse, Kilrickle, who achieved remarkable success.
    I organised a family gathering at the Trots at Christmas in the Beau Rivage to watch a couple of mine go around ...he was in rude health with no inkling of what was to come. Pancreatic cancer is an evil thing that takes few prisoners but John had an exceptional life, the pinnacle of which was the Group 1 successes he had with Hay List, and ruffling the feathers of a few toffs along the way.

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  • curmudgeoncurmudgeon    2,417 posts
     I could stand corrected but I think Trenna Skinner was apprenticed to John McNair before he went east JJ ? Trenna moved to Kal with her boyfriend Mark O' Donnell late 80's and rode for a couple of years up there.

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  • JayJayJayJay    8,096 posts
    edited April 2019
    Correct....He also had an apprentice from South America whilst in NSW, a Diego someone or other springs to mind....who kept getting suspended all the time for "over enthusiastic" rides on a couple of horses that John trained for Gerry Harvey and John Singleton. Captain Phillip was one of them if I recall correctly.

    Just looked him up...Diego Lima....won on a horse called Rebel Prince for John about 12 years ago. Think he was here on a work permit when apprentice numbers were low.
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  • tofarkennardtofarkennard    190 posts
    Rip john. ..met him a couple times as a kid always thought he was a very good trainer who set up the stables dave Harrison now trains out of .
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