How the boy who was told he’d never be any good as a trainer made the exclusive 500 club

As a boy, he’d take the ferry from the North Shore to Auckland city, catch a bus to the Alexandra Park trots to hang round the stables and trainers would pay him half a crown to walk their horses.

Fast forward 65 years and Ray Green is one of those trainers himself, and a special one at that, lauded on Friday night as the 52nd to reach the milestone of 500 winners.

“I would have done it for nothing,” says Green of his first ‘job’ at the racetrack. “When I was a kid at school I had a fascination for horses.

“I was exposed to racing at a very early age. My father was a mad gambler and a pub bookie and there were always people hanging round the house, drinking and betting.

“All horse people were criminals in my mother’s mind but I just loved the horses. I’d ride them at my uncle’s farm and he’d take me to the gallops and give me 10 bob.”

Green’s first introduction to stable life at the age of 16 wasn’t condusive to a career in racing however. He was sacked after only three months with the late Doug Grantham, a hard task-master who told him he’d never be any good at it and he should try something else “like sheep farming.’’

Green spent five years with Peter Wolfenden when he trained Cardigan Bay.Unperturbed, Green set about ringing trainers in the north and one of the first he called was the maestro Peter Wolfenden.

“When he heard I’d lasted as long as three months with Grantham he said I’d better come and see him.

“Wolfie was the best boss you could want, like a big brother. He had a great crew and I stayed there for five years.”

Best of all, Green was exposed to champion pacer Cardigan Bay, just returned from Perth, where his 1962 Interdominion trip ended in disaster after a training mishap and it wasn’t known if he’d ever race again.

“I was lucky to be exposed to a horse of that ilk at an early age and it stood to me in later life. You know what a quality horse is like when you see it and drive it. My quality control was pretty high after that.”

Sugar Ray Lincoln powers home for Maurice McKendry to give trainer Ray Green his 500th winner. PHOTO: Megan Liefting/Race Images.Not one to keep records

Green has never been one to keep records and it wasn’t until someone congratulated him after Sugar Ray Lincoln’s win on Friday night that he remembered it was his 500th success.

Green wasn’t even in the winner’s circle for the big moment, instead helping to ungear the three horses he had in the race.

“Someone mentioned I was on 499 a week or so ago but it went right out of my mind.

“I thought it was fitting that Copy That’s little brother should give me the 500, and with Maurice in the sulky. It was just a shame it wasn’t the real deal horse himself.”

Copy That contributed 33 winners to Green’s tally before his recent retirement, taking him to places few trainers get to experience in their lifetime.

A dual New Zealand Trotting Cup winner with earnings of more than $2 million, he also helped give Green and his wife Debbie financial security.

“Our 25 acre property at Tuakau is freehold now, courtesy of Copy That, which is a nice feeling. It was pretty run down when we went there and most of our money went into improving the place.

“Deb has done a great job with the landscaping and she’s into heritage poultry. There are all sorts of exotic birds flitting around, peacocks, geese, a couple of goats, some cows and a few horses.

“We’ve done pretty well. But we’re not rich enough to say we’re going on a cruise for six months.”

Green says even though people are telling him he should retire, after a serious scare nearly two years ago when he was kicked, he has no intention of quitting any time soon.

“I’ve still got a few days to go ’til I’m 79 and I’ve only just arrived after so many years of battling, so why would I stop now?

“I have buttoned off a bit. I’ve got a good little crew and I’ve learned about the art of delegation. Sure, I’ve got ongoing aches and pains but l’ve still got my marbles.”

Green with Lincoln Farms’ boss John Street at the sales - “he was the catalyst for all this.”Humblest of beginnings

Green might today be at the helm of Lincoln Farms, one of the country’s most powerful racing stables, but he came from the humblest of beginnings.

“For years it was a real struggle to even stay in the game,” says Green.

“When Deb and I got back from America in 1981 we had a bit of money left and bought a horse. But my partner couldn’t pay for it and we had to find someone else. We did all right with it, made money, and paid the bank manager what we owed.

“But we were living hand to mouth. I built garden sheds for five years to turn a dollar. I made horse feeders out of used tyres - it was hard going.”

But Green was never without a horse - he even had a couple of gallopers at one stage - and would do some shoeing, breaking in and jogging up for other people and sieve for the cheap dregs at the sales.

“One year I went to the sales and came home with five. But I couldn’t afford to buy a beer at the bar, that’s how hard up we were.

“You had two or three weeks to pay so I’d get home and start ringing around. I always had to keep a piece myself. It was tough and you had to take a few risks.

“The odd one would get to the races, which would help get you into the next one. I’m sure there were lots of people out there like us but many don’t get out of their hole.

“Everybody needs a leg up and we were lucky to run into John Street, he was the catalyst for all this.

“It was coming up to winter and John’s private trainer Ray Norton had lost one of his staff and he asked if I wanted to join the ship. I thought that would get me through the winter.”

First win a dead-heat

Before joining Lincoln Farms, Green had trained 24 winners in 11 seasons, his first at Taranaki in December, 1988 when he drove Soky’s Rocket to dead-heat with Grand Colonel and Maurice McKendry, earning $1360 for Deb and her partner in the horse Dianne Glover.

The following year McKendry drove Round The Bays for Green when he won at Auckland, the start of a long and successful association with the Hall Of Fame horseman who was the regular pilot of Lincoln Farms’ star pacer Sir Lincoln.

When Norton retired in 2004, Green and fellow stable worker Robert Mitchell inherited the trainers’ mantle, preparing 80 winners together for Lincoln Farms, and Green another 12 of his own.

And in 2009, Green took over sole responsibility for Street’s big stable, Friday night’s winner his 380th for Lincoln Farms and 120th for himself and outside owners.

With 500 wins from 3461 runners, and earnings of $8.34 million, Green has the distinction of training a winner in every seventh runner.

“Developing young horses is the part I enjoy. Almost all our winners have come from horses we have nurtured ourselves. Very few have come from other people.

“You develop a good eye for young horses and we’ve had some pretty good ones. But it is a bit of a numbers game. We broke in 18 to 20 horses this year and if we get one that might be competitive at the top level and give us a good ride that’s all we need.”

Green says there’s no big secret to training racehorses.

“Training is long hours and low pay and not many people like that. You’ve got to be a bit of a masochist to want to do it.

“Everybody plays the game their own way but all trainers are privvy to the same info, through the internet or watching other people. I spent 16 or 17 years overseas learning but with top health professionals and farriers everyone is capable of getting the best out of a horse.”

The one piece of advice Green says he’d give to budding trainers is not to overtrain their horses.

“It can lead to injuries and diminishing their form. It’s the biggest killer of form that I see out there.”

For Green, winning big races is where he gets his kicks these days and, as he packs his bags for another sortie to Christchurch on Sunday, he’s hoping to improve on his tally of 32 Group race wins, 16 at Group I, nine at Group II and seven at Group III.

Badlands Bute … Green’s first Group I winner for Lincoln Farms.Group I wins

2004 Great Northern Derby / Badlands Bute
2005 New Zealand Derby / Badlands Bute
2009 Sires’ Stakes Final / Sir Lincoln
2010 Three-Year-Old Emerald / Sir Lincoln
2012 Auckland Cup / Sir Lincoln
2014 Taylor Mile / Besotted
2014 Two-Year-Old Emerald / Beaudiene Boaz
2017 Breeders Crown / King Of Swing
2021 Sires’ Stakes Final / American Dealer
2021 Queensland Derby / American Dealer
2021 Sunshine Sprint / Copy That
2021 Taylor Mile / Copy That
2021 Messenger / Copy That
2021 New Zealand Cup / Copy That
2022 New Zealand Cup / Copy That
2023 Ballarat Cup / Copy That

Plus
2023 $1m The Race By Grins / Copy That

The 500 Club

2720 Barry Purdon
2613 Mark Purdon (898 with Natalie Rasmussen)
2076 Robert Dunn
2037 Roy Purdon
1420 Cran Dalgety
1202 Ces Donald
1115 Tony Herlihy
1098 Steven Reid
1051 Derek Jones
1010 Wes Butt
983 Geoff Small
977 Greg Hope (869 with Nina)
879 George Noble
839 David Butt (740 with Catherine)
832 Tim Butt
811 Michael House
805 Mark Jones
801 Charlie Hunter
785 Peter Wolfenden
772 Phil Williamson
742 Jack Smolenski
735 Peter Blanchard
731 Ken Barron
724 Doug Gale
717 John Butcher
709 Mike Berger
678 Steve Telfer
671 Michelle Wallis
671 Fred Smith
662 John Lischner
652 Grant Payne
641 John Dickie
628 Richard Brosnan
610 John Hay
586 Colin De Filippi
583 Hamish Hunter
579 Bruce Negus
579 Robbie Holmes
578 Nigel McGrath
572 Dean Taylor
555 Brian Hughes
550 Nicky Chilcott
548 Murray Brown
541 Fred Fletcher
522 Tony Barron
516 Sean McCaffrey
514 Kevin Townley
500 Ray Green