John Tapp Racing

Great to catch up with a horseman whose name appears regularly among winning trainers at Southern Districts meetings, and occasionally in the city. Students believe Norm Gardner’s strike rate in recent years is a very healthy one. We talk to Norm about some of his recent winners, and the disadvantage of training horses in the bitter Canberra winters. Norm talks of retired Canberra jockey Kevin Sweeney who knew it was cold when ice gathered on his eyebrows during trackwork. The trainer talks of his stabling accommodation at Canberra’s Thoroughbred Park training complex, and his nearby 40 acre property known as Summerhill Thoroughbreds. Norm says wife Diane plays a major role in looking after the place. We go back to Norm’s younger days in Wagga where his father Tom always had a horse or two around him- harness horses included. Norm says he dreamed of becoming a jockey from the moment he began riding trackwork for local trainer Fred Shaydel. He was doomed to disappointment. He says he did the next best thing by