JIM DIXON must go down as the heaviest amateur jockey of all time. He once weighed out at Townsville amateurs a whopping 2kg overweight!
A much bemused chief stipe Alan Cooper simply said “”Well, you are not going to get that off in a hurry” as he searched the room for a replacement for the amateur jockey from Kidston.
A tiny “dorp” in the north- west, Kidston might have gold in the nearby – but obviously not a single set of scales!
However it was only a minor hiccup for the young ambitious horseman who left his father’s station “Bagstowe” in the 1970s to set up a stable in Townsville.
And he came and conquered-winning premierships and collecting cups galore from all tracks over.
He doesn’t know how many winners he actually trained- and sadly no one can tell him.
“Ï tried Racing Queensland- but they have no records.
“Änyway I reckon it has to be over 500 winners,” he says in that unmistakable drawl.
And he trained for the best. Jim had a long and successful association with Alan Atkinson (Valley of Lagoons) who gave him his first horse, Crewsynd, a horse Jim claims should have won a Cleveland Bay.
A bleeding attack interrupted his campaign for the 1983 sprint won by the Tom Hedley owned (Peter Homann trained) Smitten and the next year Crewsynd was beaten in a photo by Tri Tiki and another sprinter owned by Mike Willesee (of TV fame) which was actually flown from Brisbane to Townsville for the race.
The burning ambition to win the North’s feature sprint was achieved six years later by the brilliant Jubilee Jet who Jim rates as one of the best he trained in what was a relatively short training career.
Jim also enjoyed a long and fruitful association with both with Australia’s racing immortals, George and John Moore with whom he still retains a solid friendship.
Jim stunned the local racing community when he quite suddenly walked away from racing nine years ago. He took a job in a factory warehouse from where he was retrenched just a few weeks ago.
He has no intention of returning to training however.
“’My wife would shoot me,” he claims.
He blames the Bentley regime for the reason he walked away and for the demise of country racing - particularly around north Queensland.
“He was a disaster - and I told him so,” the former top trainer said.
Jim who has overcome a couple of health issues, is a gentleman golfer these days but still glues himself to the television to watch the racing.
He clings to the memories of his stable stars that include Townsville Cup winners Unique Momento who won the Townsville, Cairns and Cairns Amateur Cups in one year- of Simple Melody, the pint sized mare that won her cup in 1990 by a whisker - and of the John Moore owned Kiwi Kid who won the Cairns Amateur Cup by 10 lengths.
“That horse put on an unbelievable 30kg in two weeks
and he looked like a greyhound dog the day he won at Cairns
“They took him straight to Sydney with a promise to send him back the next year but he broke down hopelessly in a track gallop before he had another start and was put down.
“Gee- what a horse. He could have been anything.”
But Jim Dixon still reckons the best horse he ever trained was a lightly raced gelding named The Von.
He was named after the champion golfer Norman Von Nida who was a great mate of George Moore.
“We never saw the best of him up here. But he was the best I have ever put a bridle on,” he said.
Well, he must have been good.
