Bush racing: Jockey Keith Ballard will mark half a century in racing at the Birdsville Cup, story
I’VE HAD 8500 RACE RIDES AND I’M STILL ENJOYING IT AFTER 50 YEARS. KEITH BALLARD, JOCKEY
FOR the oldest racer in 2019 Birdville Cup, Keith Ballard, 66, there’s a strong lineage in horses and horse racing.
A longtime racer across the Queensland’s north and central west, Keith lives in Mount Isa with his wife, Denise, a horse trainer and former jockey.
Son Dan is also a noted jockey, who has taken on Birdsville eight times.
But Keith’s connection to the horse racing world ticks back to his youth in Longreach.
“My father rode as an amateur for a short time, and was the town race horse farrier for many, many years,” Keith said.
His uncle, Jim Ballard, was a professional jockey who, like Keith, enjoyed a long career, even taking the skill to the World War II arena of Rabaul, in New Britain, where he served in the army.
“They had a meeting there towards the end of the war, and he rode every winner.”
Keith said he had hung around race tracks for as long as he could remember, tackling his first race 50 years ago, at the beginning of August, in 1969, aged 16.
“Two weeks later, I rode my first winner. My first ride was on a horse owned by my greatuncle Eric, and he ran midfield but I rode him again two weeks later at Barcaldine, and that was my first win. It felt very good.”
The horse’s name was Howzat, and the win was a win for the family, with trainer Vic Ward also a family friend.
It’s a career that has taken Keith all across northern Australia, and with the Mount Isa season pulling up stumps for the heat of summer, he maintained form with trackwork and some racing in southeast Queensland and northern NSW.
When he turned 50, in 2003, Keith had reckoned he would retire when he hit 1500 wins, or won the Birdsville Cup, but sometimes the love of the game has a stonger pull than the urge to put up your feet.
Keith won the Birdsville Cup in 2009, on Equitant, and he’s now hit 1702 wins.
“I race 36 weeks of the year up here. I’ve had 8500 race rides and I’m still enjoying it after 50 years.”
He remains proud of his racing family. While the only one of seven brothers to move to the jockey work, brother Peter is the starter at Longreach.
“They were all very solid boys, more the football type, and I was the midget,” he chuckled.
“Although we all played football.”
He races his son, Dan, every week at Isa, and respects his son’s achievements.
“He won the Jockey’s Premiership the first year that he rode,” Keith said.
“He’s a very good jockey, and has been very successful.”
Likewise for wife Denise, for whom he is full of praise.
“She was one of Australia’s first female jockeys and now she usually has about 10 horses in training.” Keith has a fondness for the Birdsville outback racing carnival, at which he first raced around 20 years ago.
“It’s an enjoyable time, a party atmosphere: the Birdsville Cup is put up as the Melbourne Cup of the Bush.”