Racing backs Roles to the tune of $40k
TASMANIA’S racing industry has rallied behind former Tasmanian thoroughbred trainer Terry Roles by tipping in more than $40,000 at a fundraiser at the Tasmanian Turf Club last Saturday night.
The night was promoted as an Aussie Legends event entitled Tearing up the Turf for Terry, with about 250 attending the sit-down dinner that boasted a star-studded line-up of guest speakers.
Roles was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) earlier this year and his deterioration has been rapid, but he was invited by former AFL footballer Neale Daniher to be one of six to take part in a trial drug program that is hoped to slow down the disease or possibly bring it to a halt.
The drug trial is expensive, which is why the industry gathered to raise money to help Roles fund the program.
Daniher, who also has been battling the disease since 2013, has been the driving force behind campaigns arranged by FightMND, an organisation founded by Daniher to raise funds for research into finding a cure for the disease.
The Cure for MND Foundation, of which Daniher is vice-chairman, has raised close to $20 million and the money raised will go towards 10 research projects, including a $5 million project by the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health which will use drugs to treat the stem cells of motor neuron patients.
The foundation granted $8.15 million to the other nine research projects — involving a total of 69 researchers — at institutions in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Tasmania.
The annual Big Freeze campaign, which sees footballers and celebrities slide into a pool of icy water, has raised almost $3 million.
Roles said he is pleased to have been given the opportunity to participate in the trial drug program.
“When you get diagnosed with this disease it is in effect a death sentence, so naturally those who have it are keen to become involved in a drug trial that has the potential to stop the disease worsening,” Roles said. “I’ve been on the trial drug, which comes in a liquid form and taken orally, for two weeks but I am not to expect to notice a real difference for about eight weeks.
“I am blown away by the support Tasmania’s racing industry has shown to me and my family.
“The funds will certainly help and it’s also nice to be able to come to a function like this and watch and listen to some good light entertainment.”
The crowd was entertained by former Carlton AFL coach Brendan Bolton, former race caller Greg Miles and Queensland’s premier trainer Robert Heathcote, who grew up in Deloraine and attended the same school as Roles. Heathcote spoke of his early adventures before finding his niche as a racehorse trainer and Bolton gave a warts-and-all account of his coaching days.
Miles reminisced about his time as a caller which encompassed 36 Melbourne Cups and some of the funnier occasions that included an encounter with ex-Tasmanian caller Joe Brown and a talking budgie. Many of the auction items were donated with two framed montages of Tasmanian Cup Legends and Tasmanian Racing Icons put together by Bill Hayes were popular. Former multiple premiership-winning trainer Charlie Goggin paid $500 for the Icons, while TTC chairman Brian Walker paid $400 for the Cup Legends.
The biggest donation came from the Australian Trainers Association Trust that presented Roles with a $10,000 cheque.