Carrum’s horse racing legacy continued

Cameron Howe, News by Cameron
February 22, 2019

In November, I wrote an article on the legacy of horse racing in Carrum, with special mention of Stars of Carrum — a horse owned by Carrum Football Club’s former premiership side. Due to insufficient space in Frankly Frankston Magazine‘s masthead, there were cuts and below is a continuation of my interview with Robbie Laing.

Carrum was once a country town by the beach, and esteemed trainer, Robbie Laing’s family arrived in 1927. His grandfather’s draft horses with a dray in tow used to dredge Patterson River by shovel.

“It’s hard to imagine now. He was the best man on a shovel they’d seen,” proclaims Robbie.

His father, Eddie in 1964 was an apprentice jockey at Mordialloc’s Epsom Racecourse when he bought a yearling from Flemington, which along with 14 other horses were stabled in Valetta Street, Carrum.

They were one of many families, with horses stabled locally. The Sinclair family used to train their horses up Patterson River behind a row boat to the bridge, before returning home to Tennyson Street. They too had great success on the track, with a number of winning horses, including Soul Star.

Previously I have interviewed: Norm Stephens, Freddie Mansour, Marie McIntosh (Roy Dore’s daughter), and Robert Jackson. They all in one form or another, have made a contribution to the Carrum and Patterson Lakes community. 

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