Noel Price remembered as a pioneer of trotting in Queensland

By Jordan Gerrans

Queensland harness racing clubs have celebrated the memory of a pioneer of the industry this month following the passing of former trotting enthusiast Noel Price.

Price was a well-known standardbred trainer based at Redcliffe through the 1970s and '80s, before he relocated to Victoria.

He passed away at 97 years of age at St Arnaud in country Victoria late last month.

While Price prepared pacers and trotters during his lengthy career, he had a special affinity with the square gaiters and was one of the first Sunshine State-based conditioners to work with trotting horses.

During his time in Queensland, trotting races were not run locally, so he worked his team at Redcliffe before travelling to New South Wales and Victoria to campaign his trotters.

Redcliffe held a race to honour Price’s memory earlier in September, with club president Mark McNee recalling his memories of the former harness man.

“I remember Noel when I was still in high school, as he had his horses stabled in Knight Street at the same complex as my Dad,” McNee said.

“He was truly devoted to the square gaiter and had enormous success.

“He wasn’t afraid to take on the pacers back in the late 1970s and early '80s with his trotters and then, when they were cherry ripe, he would head off to Melbourne because there wasn’t regularly a trot race in Queensland.

“He was a very good blacksmith and that was his secret with the trotters and that is why they were competitive, whether it was racing pacers here or doing a hit-and-run down south.”

In the late 1990s, trotting races in Queensland started to become more frequent following the deeds of the late harness administrator Jim McNeil, as well as others who pushed for more events for square gaiters.

Trainer Colin Godden and leading reinsman Nathan Dawson combined to win the Vale Noel Price Pace at Redcliffe earlier this month with Francs For Coming.

Marburg also held an event to honour the late horseman, with trainer Shane Parrish and driver Adam Richardson claiming the race with Jilliby Panda.

Long-time Queensland harness identity Leigh Smart was a close friend of Price’s and travelled to regional Victoria to visit him in the months before his death.

“The first horses he trained were Radiant Rocket, Coopers Rocket and Ocean Downs,” Smart said.

“The better trotting horses he trained were Cedar Girl and Just Like Cedar.

“He first travelled to Queensland with horses in the 1960s, staying with Merv Wanless at his stables and he often stayed at the Redcliffe Showgrounds. He raced the Show circuits during the 1960s and 70s.

“He bought his first property at Dakabin from Cedar Girl’s win at Parramatta Paceway via an astute betting plunge.

“He would love setting a horse for a punt and he was also regarded as a very good farrier. Over the years he would travel between his Redcliffe stable and his St Arnaud stable racing horses.

“He was mates with Des Bryant, Joe Stone, Ray Cross, Rodney Belford and Greg Franklin and he retired in St Arnaud in the early 2000s.”

Smart currently races Smarter Than You with Queensland trainer Darren Weeks, with the gelding winning three races through August.

As Smart notes, Price was a close friend of Redcliffe conditioner Franklin.

The 73-year-old Franklin cannot remember another Queensland trainer who prepared a trotter before Price.

“He trained trotters in Queensland long before there were ever trotting races programmed here, we are talking 20 years before,” Franklin said.

“He was the first bloke in Queensland to actually train trotters instead of pacers.

“He lived in Redcliffe just behind the track and he would get his horses going here at Redcliffe and then, for a few months, he’d take them south.

“He did it repeatedly, year in and year out. He’d take them to Melbourne and Moonee Valley.

“They were good trotters; they weren’t just ordinary provincial performers.

“Noel used to have several trotters in work and won several races at Harold Park. 

"He was well-known around Queensland.”

As there weren’t any trotting races locally at the time, Price had a unique way of working his team, Franklin recalls.

“He would go interstate, prepare them and get them ready for a few months," he said.

"Then he’d come back and give them a spell, then he’d start the process all over again.

“He was a very, very good man with a trotter long before anyone else in Queensland ever thought of them.”

Racing Queensland extends its condolences to the Price family.