NEWCASTLE/HUNTER HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES ANNOUNCED

THREE Newcastle racing luminaries and two outstanding racehorses were among eight inductees today welcomed into the Newcastle and Hunter Racing Hall Of Fame.

Jockeys Billy Lappin and Merv Maynard and trainer Jim Johnstone (pictured above), along with racehorses Razor Sharp (trained by Johnstone) and Angst are the latest inclusions.

They were joined by George Ryder, the man credited with developing the Golden Slipper Stakes, and Yarraman Park brothers Arthur and Harry Mitchell as associates, and former Scone trainer Betty Shepherd.

The latest batch of inductees were announced at a special function hosted by Newcastle Jockey Club to coincide with a midweek race meeting at Broadmeadow.

Additionally, the NJC also officially opened the recently renovated Robert Thompson Jockeys Rooms at the track, and presented one of the inaugural 2017 inductees with a framed photograph to mark the occasion.

Thompson rode 4447 winners, including seven Group 1s, in an outstanding career which earned him the title of Australia’s winningest jockey.

Thompson received an AM for his services to the thoroughbred industry, and was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall Of Fame in 2015.

BILLY LAPPIN

Born at Charlestown in Newcastle, he was regarded as a complete natural in the saddle.

A month after riding his first winner J’Accuse at Newcastle on November 8, 1937, he was granted permission to ride in Sydney by the then Australian Jockey Club.

Despite missing the first four and a half months of the racing year, Lappin finished the 1937-38 season with 21.5 winners, giving promise of greater things to come.

So much so that, with 87 winners, he went within one win of defeating Maurice McCarten (later to also become an outstanding trainer) in the Sydney premiership.

Tragically, Lappin’s blossoming career was cut short when the 18-year-old lost his life in the third race at Royal Randwick on February 10, 1940 when his mount Passport came down.

The outpouring of grief over the young jockey’s death was such that at least 20,000 people paid their respects at his funeral in Sydney.

MERV MAYNARD

October 11, 1952 was the inaugural running of the newly named Queen’s Cup – and proved a pivotal moment in the life of the 19-year-old apprentice jockey from Broadmeadow.

Aboard 70-1 outsider Salamanca, he upset the champions Hydrogen and Dalray.

It was a proud moment indeed, though somewhat tempered by the fact that Queen Elizabeth II, scheduled to be there to present the trophy, was unable to attend because of her father’s death.

However, some 40 years later the Queen, during an Australian visit, specifically asked to meet Maynard, who enjoyed a lengthy chat with the monarch.

Tagged the “Darby Munro of the Bush”, he rode in three Caulfield Cups and a Melbourne Cup before he was 21.

Maynard also rode with great success in New Zealand and Asia before retiring in 1994.

Though not before he and wife Judy, who had taken out a trainer’s licence, created history by becoming the first husband and wife combination to win a metropolitan race, scoring with No Score at Randwick.

A proud inductee into the Aboriginal Sports Hall of Fame, Merv Maynard died in 2017.

JIM JOHNSTONE

Some call it “the knack”, others talk about “the eye”, whilst others just say “he’s got something”.

Whatever, Jim Johnstone, affectionately known as “Bubby”, had it as a trainer and turned out a succession of top-class horses during his 40 plus years at Broadmeadow.

Born at Cessnock in 1931, he moved to Hamilton as a teenager and obtained work at BHP while driving taxis at night.

More importantly, for his future he also started working with Newcastle trainer Ray Cashman, regarded as one of the most astute horsemen to come out of the Hunter.

Johnstone set up a stable at Popran Lane not far from the racecourse in his late 20s, later moving with his wife Dorothy to nearby Dumaresq Street, with stables at the rear of the residence.

It was from there that the quietly spoken trainer really made his mark on the racing industry.

His most successful “product” was the brilliant sprinter Razor Sharp, who twice won the Group 1 VRC Newmarket Handicap (1982 and 83) down the long Flemington straight.

Johnstone’s grandson Phil Johnstone said his grandfather only ever had 10 or 12 horses in work, and despite his major successes with Razor Sharp, always considered Salaam to be his best horse.

Salaam reeled off seven straight victories, including the 1977 Group 1 The Galaxy at Randwick.

When he retired at the start of the 2005-06 season, he was one of just a handful of non-metropolitan trainers to hold a No 1 trainer’s licence.

Always popular with his peers, Jim Johnstone was 91 when he died in 2023.

RAZOR SHARP

When you have got a good thing, share it.

This brilliant sprinter was raced by a group of owners who loved to share the excitement of racing a horse with anyone who happened to come along.

Prepared by Jim Johnstone, Razor Sharp was owned by the Cook brothers Les and Col and their mate Ken Hubbuck.

Dyed in the wool racing men, the Cooks also raced pacers and greyhounds, and Razor Sharp wasn’t their only top-class racehorse.

Romantic Dream, an HOF inductee in 2021, also raced his way to great heights under their banner.

Razor Sharp won the 1981 Pacesetter Stakes at Gosford, followed by Grafton’s feature sprint, the Ramornie Handicap, ridden by Hall of Famer John Wade.

Another Hall of Famer Alan Scorse was aboard when the gelding won the Group 2 Challenge Stakes at Randwick the following year before Victorian Dale Short won the VRC Newmarket on him.

Short again had the mount when the Newcastle star doubled up the following year, becoming only the fifth horse in the time-honoured race’s 150-year history to win the Newmarket twice.

Razor Sharp retired as the winner of 14 of his 57 starts, and also was placed on 19 occasions.

ANGST

Only two three-year-old fillies have won Sydney’s Princess Series – and both were trained in Newcastle.

Trained by Noel Mayfield-Smith, this classy grey was the first to take out the series in 1993, capturing the Silver Shadow Stakes, Furious Stakes, Tea Rose Stakes and Flight Stakes.

Kris Lees’ Samantha Miss repeated the feat in 2008, and was inducted into the Hall Of Fame in 2023.

Angst, a daughter of Kala Dancer, won seven of her 10 starts – but sadly never got the chance to carry that three-year-old form into more victories.

Her wins in all four legs of the Princess Series were to be her last visits to the racetrack.

During her well-earned spell after winning the Group 1 Flight (1600m), she underwent an operation to remove polyps from her larynx – but did not survive.

. HOOFNOTE: On the track, Samantha Miss’ trainer Kris Lees, Wyong’s Kim Waugh and Hawkesbury’s Mike Van Gestel were successful.

Lees, 22 years to the day since his legendary father Max passed away, won the Provincial Maiden Plate (1300m) with $2.25 favorite Via Flaminia (Dylan Gibbons).

Waugh took the Midway Class 1 Handicap (1200m) with topweight and $3.50 favorite Bellenth (Jay Ford), and Van Gestel’s evergreen sprinter No Statement (apprentice Molly Bourke) won his 14^th race, in the Benchmark 64 Handicap (900m) at $9.50.

Story John Curtis, August 26, 2025