Recent from talks
Tommy Woodcock
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Tommy Woodcock
Aaron Treve Woodcock Jr. (8 October 1905 – 27 April 1985) professionally Tommy Woodcock, was the Australian racehorse trainer and handler of the thoroughbred racehorse Phar Lap.
Tommy Woodcock was born in 1905 at Uralgurra in Bellbrook, near Kempsey, New South Wales. He was the third of four children to Aaron Treve Woodcock and Annie Catherine Smith.
Tommy Woodcock first worked as an apprentice jockey for Barney Quinn, who was based at Randwick, New South Wales. Woodcock won several races, and worked as a jockey until 1927, when he was 22 years old. However, his size and weight increased, and he gave up jockeying in favour of being a groom and exercise rider.
It was in this way that he met trainer Harry Telford and his horse Phar Lap, widely regarded as the greatest Australian racehorse of all time. In 1929, Telford employed Woodcock as Phar Lap's strapper. From then on, Tommy and Phar Lap were virtually inseparable. Before big races, Woodcock would sleep outside Phar Lap's stable, and it was said that Phar Lap refused food from anyone but Woodcock.
Phar Lap was shipped to America, and Woodcock was employed as his trainer while he was in America. Woodcock trained Phar Lap and he won the rich Agua Caliente Handicap. Shortly afterwards, on 5 April 1932, Phar Lap suddenly died in Menlo Park, California. Always devoted to the horse, Woodcock was with Phar Lap in his final moments.
In 1946, Woodcock was initiated into Freemasonry, within the Smithfield Lodge. Other famous names in that Lodge were Billy Guyatt and William Angliss.
Woodcock continued to work with horses until his retirement in 1983. In his later years he achieved fame through training the horse Reckless, who won the Sydney Cup, Adelaide Cup, and Brisbane Cup in 1977, and ran second in the Melbourne Cup.
On 21 January 1931, Tommy Woodcock married Emma Jane Bone at St Stephen’s Presbyterian Church in Sydney. While the couple would have no children, they cared for a number of children from broken homes while their home was also residence to a number of Woodcock's apprentice jockeys over the years.
Hub AI
Tommy Woodcock AI simulator
(@Tommy Woodcock_simulator)
Tommy Woodcock
Aaron Treve Woodcock Jr. (8 October 1905 – 27 April 1985) professionally Tommy Woodcock, was the Australian racehorse trainer and handler of the thoroughbred racehorse Phar Lap.
Tommy Woodcock was born in 1905 at Uralgurra in Bellbrook, near Kempsey, New South Wales. He was the third of four children to Aaron Treve Woodcock and Annie Catherine Smith.
Tommy Woodcock first worked as an apprentice jockey for Barney Quinn, who was based at Randwick, New South Wales. Woodcock won several races, and worked as a jockey until 1927, when he was 22 years old. However, his size and weight increased, and he gave up jockeying in favour of being a groom and exercise rider.
It was in this way that he met trainer Harry Telford and his horse Phar Lap, widely regarded as the greatest Australian racehorse of all time. In 1929, Telford employed Woodcock as Phar Lap's strapper. From then on, Tommy and Phar Lap were virtually inseparable. Before big races, Woodcock would sleep outside Phar Lap's stable, and it was said that Phar Lap refused food from anyone but Woodcock.
Phar Lap was shipped to America, and Woodcock was employed as his trainer while he was in America. Woodcock trained Phar Lap and he won the rich Agua Caliente Handicap. Shortly afterwards, on 5 April 1932, Phar Lap suddenly died in Menlo Park, California. Always devoted to the horse, Woodcock was with Phar Lap in his final moments.
In 1946, Woodcock was initiated into Freemasonry, within the Smithfield Lodge. Other famous names in that Lodge were Billy Guyatt and William Angliss.
Woodcock continued to work with horses until his retirement in 1983. In his later years he achieved fame through training the horse Reckless, who won the Sydney Cup, Adelaide Cup, and Brisbane Cup in 1977, and ran second in the Melbourne Cup.
On 21 January 1931, Tommy Woodcock married Emma Jane Bone at St Stephen’s Presbyterian Church in Sydney. While the couple would have no children, they cared for a number of children from broken homes while their home was also residence to a number of Woodcock's apprentice jockeys over the years.