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Roy Higgins
Roy Higgins is one of Australias greatest living jockeys. At the time of his retirement in 1983 he had ridden 2,300 winners during the 1960s and 1970s including two Melbourne Cups. Higgins remains closely involved with the racing industry and is the author of the 1982 book “The Jockey Who Laughed” a humorous collection of racing stories.
Higgins was born in the country Victorian town of Koondrook in 1938. He started his racing career in Deniliquin, NSW in 1953 riding the country race circuit. He probably owes his nickname of “The Professor” to the local horse trainer Jim Watters, a comment on his incredible ability in the saddle. Higgins later moved to Melbourne and become Victorias most successful jockey of the day winning eleven Melbourne Jockey Premierships, the first in the 1964/5 season.
From the very beginning of his career Higgins battled his weight. He would use tricks such as hot baths and saunas to drop his weight to 51 kilos on race day. As races in those days were Saturdays only he would take Sunday out to indulge in a traditional Sunday roast and put on five or six kilos which he would then have to take off again before the next Saturdays races. Despite his weight issues Higgins was a leading jockey for 30 years. When asked what he would do in retirement he famously said, “Id just love to be a little fat man!”
Higgins successfully rode over 2,300 winners including two Melbourne Cups both on Bart Cummings trained, New Zealand bred horses: Light Fingers in 1965 and Red Handed in 1967. Other well-known horses associated with Higgins included the miler Gunsynd, Leilani (partly owned by Andrew Peacock) and Storm Queen. In fact Higgins could have won three Melbourne Cups, he was the jockey on another Cummings-trained horse, Big Philou, the hot betting pick, for the 1969 Melbourne Cup, which was controversially withdrawn only minutes before the start, a victim of a doping scandal.
Over his 30-year career, Higgins won every major race run in Australia, often multiple times. Notable Victorian wins were: W.S Cox Plate, Caulfield Cup, four VRC Derbies, four Blue Diamonds Stakes and five VRC Oakes. Interstate Higgins won the 1962 and 1969 Sydney Cups, two Golden Slipper Stakes (1966, 1973) and the AJC Oaks six times. Higgins final ride was at Flemington in October 1983.
In 1972 Queen Elizabeth awarded Roy Higgins an MBE for services to the horse racing industry. Since retiring as a jockey Higgins has worked extensively as a racing commentator on TV and radio, particularly on Melbournes Sport 927 station. He is also a lecturer in the jockey training program at Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE.
Roy Higgins has certainly earned his place in Australias racing history. You wonder though if today he would have even got a start as a 14-year-old school drop out who struggled with his racing weight his entier career. The longevity and success of his career says as much about his determination of the man as it does about his skills as a jockey.