Bill West
Affable and astute, Kyneton-based racehorse trainer George Osborne is retiring to reside in South Australia, leaving a remarkable and interesting racing career behind him.
Osborne had hoped Kyneton Cup Day would go ahead on Wednesda where he anticipated saddling up his final runners, perhaps adding to the 545 winners and 1058 place getters he has chalked up from almost 4960 starters.
Retirement has been on his mind for some considerable time, and this year he missed the yearling sales he had attended for 30 years in succession.
In Kyneton for 15 years, his stable employed about 20 personnel at its peak, with a large number of horses in work and on his books.
The number one trainer based at Kyneton, he headed an enterprising business which injected money into the town and district directly and indirectly. Stock feed suppliers, farriers, vets and casual employees were among the beneficiaries.
Osborne trained 50 winners on the Kyneton track, more than anywhere else in his career. Gold Coast with 45 and Rockhampton 34 were next best.
Retirement was certainly hastened by the unprecedented flooding of the racecourse, making it very difficult to train as one would have liked with amenities closed down for so long.
“It wasn’t fair to the horses, and the owners, and trucking horses to other tracks or sending them for long spells was not a viable solution,” he said.
Osborne has sold his Kyneton property, and said he is looking forward to retiring to a town house in Normanville, South Australia.
He will retain a share in some of the gallopers he has part-owned, and has been busy finding suitable trainers to accommodate the horses on his books.
A single figure golfer, he sees himself spending much more time on a course than he was able to do while at Kyneton.
And Hallowed Ground, Horse of the Year at Ballarat last season, is also heading for South Australia where top Adelaide trainer David Jolly is likely to take over with his beach training methods likely to suit this galloper.
A STUDENT OF FORM
Growing up in Sydney, Osborne became interested in the thoroughbred industry and he got to mix with some of the big bookmakers and punters when racing was booming.
An ability to analyse form in depth provided an income, and he became used to being “on the punt” armed with plenty of inside information.
After nearly 10 years, he wondered what it would be like being a fully fledged trainer, and appreciated the chance he had to work for one of Sydney’s top trainers, Clarrie Connors, Osborne learnt a lot.
After five years with Connors, it was time to get a trainer’s licence himself, and he found the process far from difficult.
In a way it was a case of starting out with no saddles, no horses, and ten quid in your pocket, but Osborne was keen to learn.
“The first four or five years was pretty tough, but some track riders helped me out at Kembla,” he said.
“Most of my associates had been pretty mad punters, and I thought I could train better than some I saw with horses going around.”
Osborne’s first winner came at Nowra with a galloper named Myaspen, and he was very confident about its prospects, and it literally “bolted in”.
John Rosos, one of the part owners of Myaspen, built up an association with Osborne as his accounts manager which has endured to the present day.
Another loyal associate is his media manager Peter Difford.
Osborne’s father retired to live in Queensland, and George later headed north, gradually building up the number of horses on his books, and his staff.
The trainer earned a reputation for being able to place his gallopers in the right company, and travel plenty of distances for them to run in suitable races.
He further enhanced his knowledge of breeding, and recalls that the cheapest horse he bought was one which represented an outlay of $2000, and it was later sold to Hong Kong for $100,000.
A RACING DEVIL
Syndication helped get more owners on board; Osborne rates Devil, his first Group one winner in January 2004, as one of his very best horses.
Devil won $319,480 in prize money, and Awesome Warrior, a winner of 14 races, was another of his top gallopers.
He took on apprentices who went on to make the big time; Michael Rodd was one very prominent example.
Overall Osborne trained 213 winners in Queensland, 80 in New South Wales, and 240 in Victoria; even a few across the border in South Australia.
At Kyneton, Miss Vista who was a very fast sprinter with a white face and legs and blue eyes, was a people’s horse and a stable favourite who died prematurely.
Reine Happy, not that long retired, was as honest as they come and notched up 13 wins at various Victorian tracks.
Osborne paid a special tribute to his wife Sharron, a topline horsewoman who rode trackwork for him for many years, and had a unique ability to judge when a horse was close or at peak form. They both are looking forward to a shared retirement.
“I’d like to express thanks to everyone for their support and best wishes so far,” the trainer said on Friday.
He expressed thanks to the whole racing industry in general, and the Kyneton racing community in particular, and to the many people who had supported the stable since he came to train at Kyneton.
Osborne rates Ballarat as a really top training centre nowadays, as evidenced by the number of trainers who have relocated there, and the facilities they have access to.
When at Kyneton, Osborne had a great association with former Kiwi Linda Meech, who rode 35 winners for him.
He has been a strong believer in giving young riders a chance, whether they are male or female, and apprentice Alana Kelly is one who Osborne rates very highly.
Kelly has made herself available to ride gallopers in trails for Osborne, or ride his gallopers, far and wide in recent years.
Osborne has an abundance of stories he could relate, having had over 500 owners on his books at his busiest times.
In 2018-19, he enjoyed his best season in Victoria, training 47 winners, and 45 in 2019-20.
Last season, Osborne prepared 21 winners.
One of his toughest times came when he had to advise his loyal staff of his retirement plans.
