Late jockey to be remembered on the Gold Coast

By Jordan Gerrans

The Arron Kennedy Memorial race will have added significance in 2023 with the family of the late rider set to be at the Gold Coast track this Saturday.

The Gold Coast Turf Club last year added the Arron Kennedy Memorial race to the program for their annual Men Matter Charity Raceday, which is now in its third year. 

The occasion is held to raise awareness and funds for men’s health charities, with money going towards three charities this year: Livin, Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and The Common Good.

Kennedy – a Group 1-winning hoop during his career – battled drug addiction and alcoholism for much of his adult life before his eventual death.

According to Arron Kennedy’s former manager Grant Morgan, the Bundall track was where he felt most at home.

A large contingent of Kennedy’s family will make the trip up from Sydney to be at Aquis Park this Saturday for the Arron Kennedy Memorial race of 2023.

“It is going to be emotional and special, it is wonderful to have them here at a track he felt at home at,” Morgan said.

While the late hoop felt most at home at the Gold Coast, it was the Harbour City was where he enjoyed his greatest success in the saddle.

He tasted glory at the highest level in the 1993 Group 1 Chipping Norton Stakes with New Zealand galloper Kingston Bay.

The likes of Shane Dye, Glen Boss and Jim Cassidy, among other legend jockeys, also rode in the Chipping Norton Stakes that year.

While Kennedy’s career did not reach the regular heights of those three, that performance aboard Kingston Bay showed he could mix it with the best and hold his own.

“He was an incredibly talented rider,” Morgan said.

“You could not help admire his work in the saddle, he was such a dominant rider especially when he got to the front.

“He was a real top class rider, that is for sure. He was a very positive person in terms of racing, he was always optimistic about the future.”

In Morgan’s words, Kennedy’s demons rose back to the surface and eventually claimed him in 2007. 

Gold Coast caller Mitch Manners points to the efforts of the Men Matter Charity Raceday as being potentially crucial to a person like Kennedy if mental health was a more common talking point back in the early 2000s.

“I think there is a great synergy about having a race named after Arron Kennedy, who was a successful jockey here on the Gold Coast, and what the race day is all about,” Manners said.

“Arron was successful for a number of years. Men seem to struggle to reach out to someone at times when they are struggling with their mental health.

“I think that is why a race like this is pretty prominent behind the reasoning of the Men Matter Raceday.”

Morgan eventually became Kennedy’s manager for his race day rides after initially meeting him when he was a stable hand at Randwick when the hoop was at his peak of his career.

After losing a house and a marriage through his ongoing challenges, Kennedy made his way to the Gold Coast, leaving his home town of Sydney behind. 

He set up shop with his partner Lesley Dennett, who was training gallopers at the time.

The late rider was a personable character, referring to most that he would meet as “buddy”.

“When they made Arron, they threw the mould away, he was a real character,” Morgan recalls.

“He could work with the very top people in life and the people at the bottom, everyone was the same to him.

“He was a real character right from day one. He had his demons and he owned his demons and unfortunately at the end, they claimed him.”

The 1993 Group 1 Chipping Norton Stakes was run over a mile and the 1600 metres and beyond was where Kennedy excelled, Morgan says.

He loved his time at the Gold Coast – winning a riders premiership – but he also thrived at the Ipswich track.

Kennedy twice lifted the prized Ipswich Cup with one of those being aboard Awesome Weather in 2002.

Around the same time, he lifted the 2002-2003 Gold Coast Jockeys title.

“He was very proud to win the premiership here at the Gold Coast,” Morgan said.

“He had a lot of good times here at the Gold Coast and that was one of the reasons why we want to remember him fondly on the Men Matter Charity Raceday.

“Lesley and Arron had some wonderful times at the Gold Coast, they were working really hard together.

“They had a lot of winners here at the Gold Coast and had some wonderful days, he felt at home here at the Gold Coast.”

La Petite Missile won the Arron Kennedy Memorial race in 2022 for Brisbane trainer Chris Anderson.

More information and ticket details around the annual Men Matter Charity Raceday can be found here