Photo Credit- Northam Harness Racing Club
33 years between wins is something quite remarkable, and on Friday night at Northam Byford based trainer Bill Whyte broke his 33-year draught with Jamie Kim, a feeling that he described as ‘really great.’
Whyte, who’s situated on the complex in Byford made his way to Western Australia almost 40 years ago in 1985 and in 1991, just seven starts in, received his first win with Willie Be on March 9, driven by Charlie Luca.
His second win came up just one month later on the 13th of April at Cunderdin, when Bruce Whiteman drove Willie Be to victory, just five starts after his last win.
“My very first start here, since coming to WA was at Northam and he ran second at his very first start and Rod Oliver drove him and he ran a really good race, he came flying home, but he just didn’t quite make it, but that was my first start, and it was a really good start.”
About 10 years ago, Whyte gave training another go with a horse by the name of Mallaw, but after just three starts the gelding sustained an injury and subsequently, Whyte was once again on the sidelines.
Whyte has never been far away though, with his interests as a breeder and owner always strong, and when he was given the opportunity to breed from Just Jamie after she retired in 2017, he spent his time researching on who he would send the Bettors Delight mare to.
“My brother had a share in her, so when she retired, no one else wanted to breed from her, so my brother said to me ‘look Bill, do you want to have a share in this horse to breed from?’ and I had a look at her breeding, and the good thing about her is she is by Bettors Delight, so she’s certainly got the breeding there, so I said why not, let’s have a go,
“I actually sent her to Captaintreacherous, my brother thought I was a bit crazy, it was his first season, but it was frozen semen, and she didn’t get in foal to him so I asked the stud if they had another stallion I can go to, and they said Art Major.”
And that’s the story of how Jamie Kim was born, a late foal born on the 1st of January 2019.
Jamie Kim makes the quick back up today, racing at Pinjarra in race 6 (2.33pm WST) from barrier 9, but by all reports has pulled up very well from Friday nights run and was waiting at the gate this morning at 6.15am for his breakfast.
The five-year-old was driven by Donald Harper, with the win bringing up Harper’s milestone 400th driving success.
Bill Whyte was brought up in Invercargill, and when he made his move to WA, he soon started up the New Zealand Standardbred Agency, connecting WA buyers with New Zealand sellers and being an influential part of bringing New Zealand horses here to WA.
Some of his biggest highlights have been when one of the first horses he brought over, Antique Gold, in 1989, won the Gloucester Park Pacer of The Year, trained by Jim Schrader, and then Silver Admiral for Peter Lodding, trained by Justin Warwick in the late 1990’s.
“But I just had so much fun being brought up with the trotting horses in Invercargill, there has been some champion horses come from there, like Cardigan Bay, the first horse to win $1million in the world, between a trotter and a galloper.”
Whyte celebrates his 71st birthday today, the 15th of July, and is hopeful another winner isn’t too far around the corner, with Jamie Kim having his chance again at Northam this coming Saturday in a similar race as last Friday.
Ashleigh Paikos