By Tony McMahon
The Central Queensland racing industry has lost a grand stalwart with the passing of Ron Beak on Tuesday night.
Ron, 85, had been battling a long illness and passed away in his sleep in his Rockhampton home.
Val Beak, Ron's wife of 59 years, said his sudden passing while not totally unexpected was still quite a shock.
The couple moved to Rockhampton in recent years from their cattle property Dunluce outside of Bluff.
From a Central Queensland racing family dynasty, Ron and Vale Beak raced scores of good horses over their many decades in the racing industry.
“I believe Ron would have purchased and raced about 80 horses during his lifetime,” Val recalled.
The majority Ron picked and bought as yearlings at Magic Millions on the Gold Coast and the Capricornia Sale in Rockhampton.
Ron was widely regarded as a very astute judge of horseflesh and cattle, and loved nothing more than to back his own judgement at auction sales.
His top horses which he chose as yearlings included the long time Doomben track record holder Star Chat and Divine City.
The latter, a mare by the Oaklands Stud-based stallion Ferocity, cost Ron just $7,000 as a Magic Millions March Sale yearling in 2010.
After Rockhampton wins, Divine City won three times in Brisbane accumulating around $250,000 in stakes wearing the Beak’s trademark gold, blue armbands and red cap racing silks.
In recent times during which his health had declined, Ron delighted in visiting his horses at their trainer’s stables in Rockhampton.
“We have five horses in training at the moment and one of those Valtino will start at Callaghan Park on Thursday as Ron was looking forward to that,” Val said.
Trained by Rockhampton’s Fred Smith, Valtino, a last start runaway winner at Emerald on October 8 is engaged in the fourth race, racing under the ownership of Ron and Val, along with their grandson Jesse Beak.
Valtino was among the last yearlings Ron purchased and he took great pleasure in knowing his grandson Jesse had inherited his love of racing.