HIS portrait was nominated for the Archibald Prize, and for more than half a century, Bob Rowles was as well known across the racing industry as Tommy Smith, George Moore or Gai Waterhouse.
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Now, after a record 67 continuous years as Jockeys Room Supervisor across all Sydney racetracks, Bob has retired.
Age? 97. Or, as he jokes, as ‘‘old as when the Dead Sea was first sick ...’’
The Oatley veteran has seen more on and off the track than most, having been raised in a racing stable at Grafton (his father was a trainer), where he first started riding.
The family moved to Sydney in 1928 and a young Bob went to school and rode track work.
He remembers seeing the great Phar Lap, before he was shipped to America and died, in 1932.
‘‘But I became too heavy to become a race jockey,’’ he recalls.
He served in the war, and remembers his Dad telling him about a Queensland country horse called Bernborough, which had won about a dozen races in Toowoomba (he was barred from racing at metropolitan tracks because of ownership doubts).
‘‘He’s still the best horse I’ve ever seen,’’ said Rowles.
When he was six years old Bernborough was moved to Sydney, and began a winning streak of 15 consecutive races, including the Newmarket Handicap at Flemington carrying 9 stone 13 lbs (63 kilograms) and the Doomben Cup, laden with 68kg.
He started 37 times for 26 wins, 2 seconds and 1 third.
‘‘A great thrill was seeing Bernborough win the [1946] Australian Day Handicap,’’ he said.
‘‘It was my first day as jockeys room supervisor.’’
There were nine Sydney metropolitan racecourses before the war. Now, there are only four.
Rowles’ love of horses was matched by the good-natured relationships he quickly built up with jockeys and trainers. ‘‘The job was a lot of fun,’’ he said.
They did, however, try to pull the rug over his eyes more than a few times.
‘‘But I always wised up to them,’’ he added. ‘‘Like the paper boots they’d sometimes try and weigh themselves with before a race, so they didn’t go out on the racetrack overweight.’’
He named jockeys like Ted Doon, whose brothers owned Melbourne Cup winner Arwon, and Malcolm Johnston, among the jockey’s ‘‘great characters’’.
Jack Thompson was one of the best.
But he added: ‘‘I’d have to rate Darby Monroe as the best jockey I’ve seen.
‘‘Still, it was always good to see a battling jockey win a race ... and always very sad when you lost some of them, like Jimmy Duncan, Stan Cassidy, Sid Bundy and David Green, and this year it is 20 years since Ken Russell was killed at Rosehill.’’
FEMALE ALLOWANCE
Bob Rowles believes it is time all women jockeys receive a standard one-kilogram allowance to help them race against male jockeys.
‘‘It is hard enough for jockeys, who are taller these days and have to starve themselves to make the weight to ride,’’ he said.
‘‘This is the only sport where men and women compete on level terms, and there’s more female riders now.
‘‘So, I think it is time the girls, who are not as strong, get a permanent allowance from the ATC.’’
There are 220 licensed jockeys, and females now make up 26 per cent.
Ray Murrihy, the Racing NSW chief stipe, summed up Rowles best recently when he said: ‘‘Bob respected the jockeys and they respected him.’’
Rob Ogilvie worked alongside Rowles for 20 years, shared a love of speedway motorcycle racing and the exploits of the Kelly Gang, and has taken over as
the jockeys’ supervisor.
‘‘He has led a remarkable life, and given so much to the sport of racing,’’ Ogilvie said.
‘‘That’s why the jockeys and president of the NSW Jockeys Association, Paul Innes, came out to Oatley to present him with those framed silks.
‘‘I’m sure when they coined ‘the perfect gentleman’ they were thinking about Bob Rowles.’’
Rowles was at his quick-witted best when a champion jockey boasted about buying his wife a BMW car, after selling two (very valuable) 1930 pennies.
Rowles shook his head: ‘‘You’re the first person I know to buy a BMW for tuppence,’’ he told him.
