Like a fine vintage wine, trainer driver Rosie McGeehan hopes to improve with age as she approaches the twilight of her long racing career. McGeehan, who turns 65 on December 12, is the oldest female driver in competitive harness racing in Australia, having surpassed the feats of Margaret Davies, who last raced in July, 2009 as a 64-year-old, writes SEAN CUNNINGHAM.
Reflecting on her racing career as she prepared to race at Tabcorp Park Menangle on Tuesday, McGeehan suggested her involvement with harness racing might never have got off the ground due to a set of circumstances as a young woman.
She believes love might have cost her greater glory as an Australian representative.
“When the Olympics are on, especially when they were on in Sydney, I do think about it.
“But I suppose, what will be will be.”
As a young woman McGeehan’s participation in three-day equestrian events ultimately sparked her
interest in harness racing.
Hailing from the Windsor area, McGeehan has fond memories of her first foray into racing on one of her
local racetracks.
“I loved the Richmond grass track with the rabbit holes in it,” she said.
“Not all horses could handle it.
“I think I was about 22 when I had my first drive in a ladies race at Bathurst.
“A horse called In The Picture was the first drive I had.”
In a life always associated with horses, McGeehan took a greater interest in the sport when her first husband Paul worked for notable trainer Wally Woods, of Wilbur Post fame.
But it was in her second marriage to Jim McGeehan when she experienced a racing highlight.
“I felt so proud when Jim drove his first winner because I taught him to drive,” she said.
As a true animal lover, perhaps McGeehan was destined to work with animals all her life.
“When I first left school I worked at a dog kennel looking after poodles,” she said.
“Then I worked in poultry farms, in a hatchery, bred chickens and vaccinated them.
“‘But I just love the horses. And I do like the trotters.
“What I love about horses is that they love you for who you are.
“Most people don’t think horses feel anything, but I’ve had a horse moaning in pain, laying down in the stable and I’ve got down and laid down with it.”
McGeehan has witnessed the thrills and spills of harness racing over four decades of racing.
One of the memorable moments that sticks in her mind is when she tried to introduce a friend to the sport.
“She had never been to the races before and there was a fall in the race.
“We didn’t know if the race had been stopped or not, so we all just kept driving.”
With numerous broken bones taking its toll over the years, McGeehan is pondering retirement in the not-too-distant future.
Although, it will be with a heavy heart when she decides to hang up the reins and call it a day.
“I’m thinking of giving driving away next year,” McGeehan said.
“I’ve had too many falls.”
As she prepares to stand aside, McGeehan knows the contingent of female drivers will continue to be leading lights in harness racing.
“The young drivers have no fear out on the track,” she said.
“They get a bit too close sometimes.
“There are more opportunities today for the younger ones coming into racing.
“They don’t know what we had to go through to get a licence.”
McGeehan’s most recent outing to the racetrack was at Tabcorp Park Menangle when she was unplaced driving Alpha Rhythm.
Boxing Day, 2012 at Tabcorp Park Menangle was a memorable occasion for McGeehan, with Alpha Rhythm giving her the third victory of her driving career.
Her other two winners were Micro Machine at Fairfield in 1999 and at Bulli in 2004 with Tommy Brown, a horse she holds in high regard.
“Tommy Brown went to Queensland and went on to win about seven races,” McGeehan said.
As a trainer, she has had 979 starters for 16 winners and three wins from 550 drives.
And maybe she has another winner in her as she etches her name in the record books, before she settles down to retirement to spend more time with her 11 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Who knows? Perhaps her exploits in the sport will spark an interest in her grandchildren to follow in their grandmother’s footsteps.
