‘What else am I going to do?' My Last Hooray no last hurrah for veteran trainer Frank Cleary
Frank Cleary, the racehorse trainer who can't retire, often finds himself reminiscing about what might have been during State of Origin time.
A talented rugby league fullback in his day, Cleary earned selection in 1970 for Country Seconds against City Seconds at the SCG.
This was 10 years before State of Origin was introduced and Country teams were made up of part-timers from bush regions against City sides full of the sport's best players.
The City team Cleary was opposed to boasted 13 players who either had already worn the green and gold of Australia or were to soon earn Test selection including greats like John Sattler, Bob Grant, Fred Jones, Phil Hawthorne, John Brass, Bob O'Reilly, Denis Pittard and Paul Sait.
But Cleary's country team made a game of it against the City side, losing the representative clash 24-13.
'We tried not to pay too much attention to who we were playing against or you would be overawed,'' Cleary recalled.
'So, we just relied on each other, bush boys having a go, and we held our own. It wasn't a whitewash, put it that way.''
Some years later, Cleary was having a quiet beer with some mates in a Queanbeyan pub when he was 'belted in the ribs'.
'I turned around and it was John Sattler,'' Cleary said.
'I asked him what that was all about and he said 'SCG, 1970 – now we are square'.
'He had a good memory because during that game, I did give Sattler one in a tackle and he waited to get even with me. We had a good laugh about it.''
Cleary enjoyed his footy but knew the time would come when he needed to make a choice – keep playing rugby league or concentrate on training racehorses.
He took out a trainer's licence in 1971 but continued playing footy for another three years before hanging up the boots.
'I had that many injuries and (wife) Sue and I were starting our family,'' Cleary said.
'Plus I had a horse in the stable called Wayne's Bid – and I knew how good he was so I thought I had better give up footy and concentrate on training.''
Wayne's Bid was a brilliant sprinter and gave Cleary his first Group 1 winner when he won the 1976 The Galaxy when ridden by 'Miracle' Mal Johnston.
Cleary remembers that race like it was yesterday.
'Wayne's Bid was a great horse to me and he was in great form that autumn,'' he said. 'But he was up against Sticks And Stones who was very fast.
'The race turned into a sprint replica of the Bonecrusher-Our Waverley Star Cox Plate (1986).
'They broke clear at the 600m and they went stride for stride to the line. Wayne's Bid was able to edge in front in the last 30-40m.''
Wayne's Bid was all the vindication Cleary needed he had made the right career choice.
Cleary has since carved out a very successful training career, mainly from Queanbeyan, preparing topliners like Select Prince, Friend's Venture, and particularly Clan O'Sullivan and Catbird.
Clan O'Sullivan was an outstanding two-year-old and won the Magic Millions and Black Opal Stakes before his narrow loss to Burst in the 1992 Golden Slipper.
The trainer was stung by that defeat but seven years later he finally won the Golden Slipper with Catbird.
A brilliant colt by Danehill, Catbird won five of his 14 starts including the coveted Black Opal-Golden Slipper double.
Cleary's classy colt also had a successful career at stud, siring 22 stakeswinners including Green Birdie, winner of the Singapore International Sprint, Cats Fun who won the Western Australian Derby and Perth Cup, and Monton, winner of the Villiers Stakes.
It was the Catbird connection that was the clincher for Cleary to delay his retirement from training.
The story goes that Cleary was cajoled by his close friend, former Canberra Raiders chairman, John McIntyre, to check out a yearling by Harry Angel at the Inglis Classic Sale two years ago.
'I told John I've had enough of training but he insisted I have a look at this yearling,'' Cleary said.
Cleary noticed the yearling's great-grandam just happened to be Fitting, herself the dam of Catbird.
'I'd never heard of Harry Angel at the time but I studied the horse's pedigree and he was closely related to Catbird on his dam's side,'' he said.
'He was a lovely colt to look at and John kept saying I need to get another horse to train.
'I thought bugger it we will try and get him. He only cost us $40,000.
'So, I agreed to train the horse. I said this would be the last one, and that is how we came up with the name, ' My Last Hooray '.''
The name is a misnomer now but more about that later.
My Last Hooray, who is owned by some of Cleary's longstanding clients including McIntyre, is now a three-year-old with potential, winning three races (and three placings) from nine starts. He's already recouped his purchase price with interest having earned nearly $80,000 prizemoney.
At Royal Randwick on Saturday My Last Hooray is topweight with 61kg for the $120,000 TAB Highway (1200m).
Cleary has booked 3kg-claiming apprentice Will Stanley to off-set My Last Hooray's handicap and the likelihood of heavy track surface doesn't concern the trainer.
'The kid (Stanley) is a good young rider and the 3kg he claims will be very handy,'' Cleary said.
'I'm not worried by the heavy track, either. My Last Hooray gets through it so we will take all the help we can get.''
My Last Hooray is at $19 in early TAB Fixed Odds betting behind the promising mare So You Pence at $2.40 favouritism, emerging Scone sprinter Shropshire Lad is at $4.80 with Chemtrail ($7) the only other runner under double figure odds.
There is a truism in racing that trainers never retire and Cleary's success with My Last Hooray means he has shelved retirement plans – probably for good.
'I've also got a two-year-old in training now so I guess I'll keep going for a few more years,'' he said.
'But what else am I going to do? I don't play golf or anything and I would go mad if I couldn't go to the stables every morning. It makes me get out of bed and get on with my day.
'I'm 76, my health is good, so why not keep going. My Last Hooray – well, it's the wrong name now.''
Cleary still follows the footy closely and regularly attends Canberra Raiders games.
There are some who believe the Raiders could challenge for the NRL premiership this season but Cleary is more circumspect.
'The Raiders are going really 'good' this season, they have all these young blokes coming through and they are a very fast team,'' Cleary said.
'They are great to watch, they might be 12 months away, but Ricky (Stuart, coach) has them playing good footy so you never know.''
Cleary saved the best for last with his thoughts on the Origin clash between NSW and Queensland next Wednesday and My Last Hooray's chances at Royal Randwick on Saturday.
'I would have picked James Tedesco at fullback and maybe found a spot for Ryan Papenhuyzen in the Blues team,'' he said.
'But it does look a very strong side and I think NSW can win the first Origin game.
'At Randwick, we are going to get a wet track and that won't bother My Last Hooray because the day he won at Goulburn the track was bottomless.
'I realise track surfaces are different everywhere but if they handle the wet, they handle the wet.
'My Last Hooray is going terrific, he's in good form and should be hard to beat. He's not a bad horse.''
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