Peter Howard makes history with Hall of Fame honour

By Andrew Smith

Peter Howard has always had a fascination with the racing industry, and it is that passion for the sport that has seen him earn one of the state’s top honours.

The former journalist was one of four inductees into the Queensland Racing Hall of Fame at the 2025 Queensland Thoroughbred Awards earlier this month.

The 79-year-old spent almost fifty years working in newspapers, plying his trade at both The Telegraph and The Courier Mail.

But it has been his work in retirement preserving and showcasing the history of the sport at the Queensland Horse Racing Museum that has been his greatest achievement.

Howard is the president of the not-for-profit Thoroughbred Racing History Association that runs the museum, which contains some of the Sunshine State’s most treasured racing memorabilia.

Speaking about his newspaper days, he explained how a simple weekly column had helped elevate him to now sit alongside some of Queensland’s legendary racing figures in the Hall of Fame.

“I worked in sport for 12 years, and my ambition was to become a full-time racing rider, but I got drawn into the main newsroom, so I was a little bit frustrated ,” Howard said.

“Whatever job I took on in the newspapers, I always asked the editor “Could I write a weekly thoroughbred breeding column?’ and that kept me involved in the industry, and I enjoyed that aspect of it.

“When I retired, Bart Sinclair from the Brisbane Racing Club came to me and asked me about getting involved with the racing museum, and from there, it's just absorbed me.

“It blows me away - I've looked at Hall of Fame recipients before, and I never, ever dreamt I could be in that rank, it was just a wonderful surprise.

“Personally, I want to thank my wife Margaret and my three children, they've been very supportive.

“Professionally, no doubt Bart Sinclair who is a very strong supporter of what we do and a great advocate for the museum, as well as Richard Morrison before him and also Neville Bell.”

Howard works with a group of 12 volunteers, all with a background in racing, who keep the Eagle Farm museum and the archives at Doomben ticking over.

His favourite bit of racing memorabilia is the 1961 Brisbane Cup won by legendary racehorse Tulloch, which was offered back to the museum by the owner’s granddaughters.

The centrepiece of the collection is Eagle Farm’s old Julius Tote which was first used in the early 1900s, surrounded by thousands of articles, pictures and trophies chronicling Queensland’s rich thoroughbred history.

Howard said the group was now focused on the preservation of the memorabilia to ensure it survived for generations to come.

“That's our challenge now of course - like me, a lot of the volunteers are retirees and the digital age is new to us,” Howard said.

“But the last few months, we've started to study digitisation, how to do it, what we require for it, and I'm pleased to say we're starting to get the ball rolling on that.

“It’s an immense job, because we have thousands of artifacts, pictures and trophies, and every one of them we need to record and be able to have those on record for the future.

“We're proud to look after the museum on the BRC’s behalf.”

Respected former racing journalist Bart Sinclair, himself a Queensland Racing Hall of Fame member, had first met Howard during their time together in the world of newspapers.

Sinclair paid testament to Howard’s love for the industry, which he also juggled with another sporting passion.

“Whenever Peter came to Eagle Farm or Doomben meetings, whether working or just as an observer, he was always interested in the horse,” Sinclair said.

“He was interested in the characters involved in the racing industry, and I could see that he was going to be there for the long term, because he was just passionate about the industry.

“He’s really an accomplished rowing coach, something that not many people would know about, except for those involved in that sport.

“But for many years, he's coached successfully as a selector at the highest level – he somehow finds time to do everything, but racing's his number one passion.”

Sinclair also said Howard and the group of volunteers had taken the museum at Eagle Farm and the archive at Doomben to new heights.

“It's recognised as the best of its type in Australia by a fair way, and it does have international recognition as well,” Sinclair said.

“H's a gentleman above all else - I've never heard anyone say a bad word about Peter Howard, and that goes to his demeanour and the way he conducted himself throughout his life.

“For all that Peter has done through his life and his dedication to the racing history, the way he's carried himself throughout those many years of being around racetracks, I think he's eminently qualified to be an inductee into the Queensland Racing Hall of Fame.”

Click here to read more about the Queensland Horse Racing Museum.