John Tapp Racing

Enjoy nothing more than heading “bush” for our podcast chats. This week we go to Big River Country to catch up with Grafton trainer Dwayne Schmidt who operates a twenty horse operation from Grafton. After a successful training stint in Queensland, Dwayne headed back to NSW when the track problems at Eagle Farm persisted. He admits he was sorry to leave Brisbane. Dwayne says he strongly considered Ballina as a training base before settling on Grafton. He has some nice things to say about the promising Alf’s Magic. Durnstein produced a stunning maiden win at Grafton during the July carnival. Dwayne talks about the potential of this promising son of Exosphere. Dwayne takes us back to his riding career which began with an apprenticeship to Leslie Picken when Canterbury was still a training base. He still finds it hard to believe he actually rode his first winner on the hallowed turf of Royal Randwick. Dwayne remembers a two horse track gallop at Canterbury which gave him almost as much satisfaction as a race win.