Arthur Clancy drives $51 outsider Rose Of Juliana to victory

On Wednesday night at the Bathurst Paceway, Clancy guided $51 outsider Rose Of Juliana to victory.

A three-year-old filly he not only trains and drivers but owns and bred as well, Rose Of Juliana held on to win by a half-head.

Clancy said the win, the second of her 41-start career, came "just in time".

"She's got her two-year-old bonuses around this time last year and she only had about two weeks to go to get her three-year-old bonuses, so she achieved that," he said.

"She's got a reasonable amount of ability, there's no doubt about that, her recent form, she finished fifth at her previous start in the same company over at Young and she got a check going around the first turn.

"If she hadn't of got that check she would've run third, she was third halfway down the straight but she didn't quite find the line and I was disappointed with her run because I did fancy her over there."

On Wednesday night Rose Of Juliana was in a similar quality field, so Clancy was surprised to see that she was at the longest odds in the 10-horse field.

"She was served up the same sort of company here and to be at those odds, yeah I don't know how they work that out," he said.

"A lot of it is the case of who is doing the form and it would be a hard job because they're doing every race. I don't think they analyse things too much because they've got so many races to go through.

"You can't always tell, sometimes I'll be thinking I'll have big odds about a horse I'll be racing and sure enough it will be short. When that happens I think 'Oh well, someone is doing their home work'."

Working with horses is something Clancy has now been doing for more than five decades.

Clancy moved to Bathurst in 1967 as a engineer with Southern Mitchell County Council.

It was around 18 months later, when he was 26, that Clancy started the process of getting his licence.

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"In those days you only needed to do 10 trials to get your licence, it's a lot more involved these days," he said.

"I still didn't have a horse and any gear at that stage and the first horse I remember I got was a complete rogue.

"You'd be jogging along down the straight with him and he'd be as calm as anything and all of a sudden he'd take off and you'd be going a million miles an hour up the track sort of thing.

"He was a dangerous type of horse really but I didn't know the difference back then, I wouldn't hang on to him now."

Since then Clancy has had some nice horses such as Red Harmony, who won 13 races and placed 28 times, and some more tricky ones as well.

One of those trickier horses was Shorty Noonan, a horse named after the crafty St Pat's halfback of the 1960s and 70s.

"That horse nearly retired me," Clancy said.

"Funny story about him. Chris Frisby had the feed barn and Shorty ran a little stationery business in Keppel Street at the time. Anyway Chris arrived there one day and went into his shop and said to Shorty 'Where do I put the load of hay?'

"Shorty said 'What the hell are you talking about?' and Chris asked him 'You're Shorty Noonan aren't you? I've got an order for a load of hay for Shorty Noonan.'

"Shortly told him 'It's the bloody horse you fool'."

Shorty Noonan the horse made his racing debut in 2005, but it wasn't until January 2008 he finally won for Clancy.

"I actually won with him at the Bathurst Showground one night at 50-1 too, he bolted in, but he never paced again for me, every start after that he'd break," Clancy said.

"I used to get up to four trials, he'd go back in and he'd break again and I'd have to go through another four trials before I could start him.

"He was a headache. I put an add in the Trotguide at the time to sell him for, I forget now, four or five thousand, and in the add I put as a bonus you get a free packet of Panadol.

"I didn't sell him from that ad," he laughed.

Eventually Clancy did sell Shorty Noonan to an owner in Queensland, and he went on to win two more races.

Currently Noonan has two horses in work, a two-year-old that's yet to be named and another horse he owns called The Ringmaster who is he has leased to Dean Chapple at Tamworth.

It was with The Ringmaster Clancy won his first race of 2022 in October.

He's only contested just over 50 races this year.

"I've got a bit lazy as time has gone by. When I was working and running my business I seemed to fit more in then, but now I'm sort of looking for a little bit more breaks," he laughed.

"When you're looking back, time slips by pretty quickly when you're getting older.

"I enjoy the driving, if it was just driving and I was doing what Cameron Hart was doing, freelance driving, I'd be having a ball."

Though he takes things easier these days, Clancy - who turns 80 on Christmas Day - has no plans to retire.

"It's a still a buzz," he said.

"If you've got a horse with a chance to win a race, my mare the other night she had the draw to get right into the race, well that's a bit more exciting than drawing out in seven or eight in stronger company.

"I've had some nice horses over the years, it's just hard to get to get a good one. When you do get one of those types of horses it adds a little bit more to the game."

It's a game Clancy will no doubt keep enjoying - especially if he wins as a $51 long shot.

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