The late Kaye Tinsley remembered for his jockey mentoring

By Jordan Gerrans

Tough and strict, but fair, is how a master needs to be to produce two of the greatest riders of his generation in the Sunshine State.

That is how Kaye Tinsley is being remembered following his passing on Monday on the Gold Coast.

The late Tinsley was a high-level hoop in his native New Zealand before relocating to the Gold Coast and preparing his team until the 2006-2007 campaign.

Tinsley won Group races as a trainer and even placed in a Stradbroke Handicap, but he will arguably be remembered most fondly for his tutelage of young jockeys.

Jason Taylor and Glen Boss – who have both won multiple Group 1s in the saddle – were two of his star pupils across his tenure on the Gold Coast.

“He had that experience of being a top jockey himself, so he knew what it took,” Taylor said.

“That is why he was so hard on us, because when you step out in the senior ranks, it is not easy and everyone knows it is going to be hard.

“I see riders cop sprays these days from trainers and I think that is nothing compared to what we used to cop (laughs).

“It toughens and hardens you up for what you are going to get out there in the riding ranks as well as from the public.”

Taylor and Boss were not just learning from Tinsley at the track, but they were also welcomed into his family life.

They both lived with the Tinsley clan for long stretches of their time before they became seniors.

It was galloper City Fair who took Tinsley to the verge of claiming Queensland’s great race, the Stradbroke Handicap.

The Kiwi-bred sprinter ran into second in the 1999 edition of the showpiece race by a small margin. 

Hoop Dale Spriggs rode City Fair in the Group 1 that afternoon and the retired jockey says he came to know Tinsley as a friend, not just a trainer he rode for.

“I really thought highly of Kaye, not only as a trainer but also as a person,” Spriggs said.

“In my time at the Gold Coast, I rode quite a few winners for Kaye, while also running second on City Fair in a Stradbroke behind Adam.

“Kaye was very quick-witted and also respected those who worked for.

“He made riding trackwork pleasurable of a morning. He will be sadly missed.”

Spriggs was one of the most prolific jockeys that provided winners for the Tinsley camp during his Australian tenure, only behind David Hayse who collected 28 victories. 

Taylor left the Sunshine Coast as a keen young teenager and started his riding journey with Tinsley before he was even legally permitted to have a beer. 

It could have been a daunting prospect for the wide-eyed fledgling rider but Tinsley and his wife Lorraine, or ‘Chic' as she is known, made him feel at home straight away.

“He welcomed me with open arms,” Taylor said.

“I had never left home or lived away from home as a teenager at that stage and I was very green.

“My family obviously trusted them that they would do the right thing by me.

“They were absolutely amazing as they were basically a second family to me.”

After not long ago ticking past his 80^th birthday, Tinsley had battled cancer in recent years.

The 53-year-old Taylor was able to spend a few hours with his now late mentor just a few weeks ago, which he says now in hindsight was a perfect chance to say goodbye to his old boss.

He reflected that the former jockey and trainer was still very sharp in his mind when he visited him not long ago on the Gold Coast.

“He was tough, strict and hard, but he was fair,” Taylor said.

“As a master, he made sure things had to be done perfect which made you a better rider and horseman in the long run.

“I think me staying with him for my entire apprenticeship was a testament to his knowledge and what I was getting out of it.

“That is not just racing but being around him as a person, as well.

“I felt he had so much to teach, not just with riding but everything about the horse – it just made you a better horseman and rider because he was such a perfectionist and top class jockey.”

On top of Stradbroke runner-up City Fair, the Tinsley team enjoyed great success with gallopers such as Strange Aura, Brighter Scene, Heroism, Counter Agent and Princess Clang, among others.

Heroism’s triumph in the 2001 Queensland Guineas – which was run at Group 2 level – will go down as one of his best results as a conditioner.

Before the elite Boss retired from riding in November of 2021, the great showman of Australian racing notified his mentors, Lorraine and Kay, before the announcement become widely-known in the public domain later that afternoon.

“He wanted to tell me of his intentions,” Tinsley said at the time.

“We still stay in touch and will often have a coffee when he is around.

“Now and again he will give us a call, he rang to thank us for the input that we put into him that helped him become the person he is today.

“That is how he speaks of us all the time, he does that, he thanks us.”

Speaking on Thursday morning from Melbourne, Boss reflected on his mentors career in the industry.

“I spoke to the family the day he passed, it is terribly said,” Boss said.

Racing Queensland extends its condolences to the Tinsley family.