Quinton reflects on time with champion Irish trainer

Cover image courtesy of Scoop Dyga

Australian Hall of Famer Quinton became the first retained rider to the Irish training maestro Oxx when he accepted an offer in the late 1980s to leave Sydney behind and continue his career in Europe.

Oxx had begun his training career at Currabeg on the edge of The Curragh, taking over from his father John Snr for the start of the 1979/80 season and quickly made his way to the top of his profession with Quinton joining him just shy of a decade later.

“I rode for him in 1988, 1989 and 1990. John Oxx and his father had always been keen on Australian jockeys and I was recommended to John by Hilton Cope, who rode for John Snr in Ireland,” Quinton told TDN AusNZ.

“I was actually John Oxx’s first retained jockey. Prior to me going there, he never had a retained jockey and basically used whoever was retained by Vincent O’Brien, the likes of Cash Asmussen, Pat Eddery and those fellows.

“John used to use them when they came over for the big days in Ireland when Vincent didn’t require them. Otherwise, he used the local Irish riders.”

Quinton had served his apprenticeship with famed mentor and trainer Theo Green and become Sydney's leading apprentice in 1967. He won his first senior premiership in 1969/70, a second in 1976/77 and six in succession between 1978/79 and 1983/84.

“Something I had always wanted to do was to ride either in England or Ireland. I was always reluctant to go in my earlier years because I was leading jockey here and I wasn’t going to walk away from that,” he said.

“Later on it was the right time to go and at that stage Neville Begg was thinking about going to Hong Kong. It was a great opportunity for me to go to Ireland and learn more about horses.

“John was a qualified vet as well so I was able to learn from him. On a horse’s back I thought I was pretty good, but from the other perspective I learned a lot about the horse in general!”

A new way of racing

Quinton said it was a culture shock when he first arrived, but was quickly made to feel at home.

“I really like the Irish people and they were always taking the mickey out of the Aussie bloke there, which was all good fun, and I had good success with John.

“The first two seasons we had a virus go through the yard, but we were able to win the G1 Moyglare Stud S., their best 2-year-old race, for Sheikh Mohammed on a filly called Flamenco Wave.

“The second year there I won the G1 Irish St Leger for John on a filly called Petite Ile. She went to England and was placed in the Yorkshire Oaks and the Irish Oaks and then won the Leger.

“The final season I was there we had more winners than the previous two seasons, but didn’t win a Group 1.”

After three years, Quinton decided to return to Australia to launch his own training career with the greatest of memories of his time with Oxx in Ireland.

“John is such a well-respected man all around the world, he is one of the most decent gentlemen I have ever met in my life,” he said. “I kept in touch with him a lot and was speaking to him one day after I’d been training for a little while.

“I said to him 'I think I’ve got a Group 1 horse' and he said 'what’s it by?' I said 'Barathea' and he just said, 'ah well - good luck!'

“The day that horse, Easy Rocking, won the G1 Salinger S. at Flemington, John was on track because he’d brought a horse out for the G1 Melbourne Cup. That was a great thrill for me to have John there.”

The horse Oxx had in Australia was Enzeli (Ire) (Kahyasi {Ire}), but he was unable to reproduce the form that had won him the G1 Royal Ascot Gold Cup the previous year and finished unplaced.

Perhaps the greatest of Oxx’s star performers was the multiple Group 1 winner Sea The Stars (Ire).

“John told me he had a really good horse and I watched him win the G1 2000 Guineas in England. He said to me he might be a bit too brilliant for the G1 English Derby and no horse had won the Guineas and Derby in 19 years, and that was Nashwan,” Quinton said.

“I said to him, 'well it’s about time another one did it' and as history shows he did it alright and then went on to win the G1 Arc – what a horse. Mick Kinane rode him and I rode against Mick when I was in Ireland and got to know him pretty well.

“It was a wonderful experience for me to go to Ireland and particularly to ride for John. I picked his brain a lot about horses and their welfare. It was my privilege to be able to ride for such a fine man like him.”

String of stars

Sea The Stars might be regarded as Oxx’s finest representative, but Ridgewood Pearl (Ire) (Indian Ridge {Ire}) was also a gem and in a season landed the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas, G1 Coronation S., G1 Prix du Moulin and GI Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Five years later, Oxx had the mighty Aga Khan homebred Sinndar (Ire) (Grand Lodge {USA}) in his stable and the colt won the greatest race in each of Europe’s three major racing nations: the G1 Derby at Epsom, the G1 Irish Derby at The Curragh and the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp.

To make that magical final day in Paris even more special, Oxx also landed the sprint, the G1 Prix de l’Abbaye, with Namid (GB) (Indian Ridge {Ire}).

Sinndar was merely one of numerous stars who passed through Oxx’s hands during his lengthy period as trainer of His Highness Aga Khan IV’s Irish string.

Other major winners he prepared for His Highness included 1993 G1 National S. winner Manntari (Ire) (Doyoun {GB}); 1996 GI Beverly D S. and G1 Irish Champion S. heroine Timarida (Ire) (Kalaglow {GB}); 1997 G1 Irish Oaks heroine Ebadiyla (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells {USA}); 1998 G1 Moyglare Stud S. heroine Edabiya (Ire) (Rainbow Quest {USA}); 1999 G1 Ascot Gold Cup hero Enzeli (Ire) (Kahyasi {Ire}); 2003 G1 Irish Derby and G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. winner Alamshar (Ire) (Key Of Luck {USA}); 2004 G1 St James’s Palace S., G1 Irish Champion S., 2005 G1 Prince of Wales’s S., plus G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. winner Azamour (Ire); 2006 G1 Irish St Leger winner Kastoria (Ire) (Selkirk {USA}) and 2009 G1 Irish St Leger winner Alandi (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).