Harold Norman eyes rare Gold Coast training milestone

By Jordan Gerrans

Edging closer to his 86^th birthday later this year, Gold Coast stalwart Harold Norman still has goals to tick off before he even considers stepping away from the training ranks.

The former jockey is a part of the furniture down at the Bundall track and is regarded as a ‘legend’ of the caper on the Glitter Strip.

He has big Cup races on his resume from around five decades of training gallopers, as well as multiple black-type victories.

And, there is one more achievement he is keen to log before he hands back in the bridle.

The Gold Coast Turf Club is in the middle of a tracks and lights upgrade project totalling $63 million, which was funded between the Queensland Government, Racing Queensland and the GCTC.

With the brand new track set to be completed later this year, Norman has his eyes on opening day.

The 85-year-old holds the rare distinction of having trained and ridden a winner on the two previous course propers’.

And, he is desperate to add a third different course proper victory to his mantelpiece once the new surface is officially unveiled.

“That is my aim,” Norman said at his Gold Coast apartment earlier this month.

“I am hoping to have a runner on the opening day of the track and see if I can get a winner.

“I have a nice little team there, hopefully I can get a winner out of them. To be able to say you trained or rode a winner on three different course propers at the Gold Coast, not many people can say that.”

When he first lobbed at the Gold Coast, the course proper that was in use at the time was only seven months old after recently being redeveloped.

A sand surface was also in use, as well.

As one of the longest tenured conditioners at the venue, Norman can recall the days when there was 50 horses, three trainers and four jockeys that used the track to work their horses.

These days, upwards of 6,047 participants are involved and reside in the Gold Coast region with 2,012 of those having full-time jobs in the industry.

The upgrade project consists of refurbishments to the existing racing surfaces, construction of lights for night racing, an equine tunnel to the infield and a new all-weather Polytrack.

“What is happening now is absolutely super,” Norman said.

“It is going to be a top track, it is going to be really, really good.”

Gold Coast race caller Mitch Manners has seen Norman’s work up close over the last year since he took the top job at the club and immediately noticed how well respected he was amongst the other participants and officials.

“Harold has been an institution here at the Gold Coast for decades,” Manners said.

“In a game where there is the younger generations coming through, it is great to these legends like Harold still doing what they do best and love most.

“He is always giving of his time to other people as well.”

The Gold Coast has been home to Norman for decades but he only landed there by chance in his days as a jockey.

He originally hails from Moruya – just outside of Bateman’s Bay in southern NSW – and headed to the big smoke of Sydney to ride as an apprentice hoop in his youngest years.

After getting out of his time as an apprentice, he headed to the bush of NSW to ride for more than a decade as a senior jockey.

He identified that he wanted to be trainer post-riding and cast his mind to either Adelaide or Brisbane for his next location.

Norman did not think he had a big enough reputation in the saddle to make it in Melbourne or Sydney as a trainer so he looked elsewhere.

“We got in the car and said we will go up there and have a look at Brisbane,” the stalwart trainer remembers.

“We got to the Gold Coast here, we found out there was a race track so we went and had a look.

“We went back to Moruya, packed up and came back to the Gold Coast and have been here ever since. We did not bother getting to Brisbane (laughs).”

He rode on the Gold Coast for a period of time before transitioning into training, where he found success soon after.

The burgeoning Norman barn collected black-type success with a galloper named Super Dude in the early stages of 1984 and it just grew from there.

“Harold Norman is one of the great characters of the Queensland racing industry,” Racing Queensland’s Richard Goodbody said.

“For more than four decades he has plied his trade on the Gold Coast and there is very little that he has not seen in that time.

“It is still great to see him training winners still well into his 80s and he has to be one of Australia’s oldest trainers. He is a wonderful horseman and I am sure there is plenty more winners on the horizon.”

Super Dude was the stable's first victory at Group 3 level and more feature fortunes followed.

Count Scenario and Kugelhopf were both competitive at the highest level, with Norman regarding those two as the best horses he prepared in the Sunshine State.

Count Scenario won the 1999 Group 3 Grafton Cup while Kugelhopf scored in the 2003 Listed Toowoomba Cup and the 2003 Group 3 Queensland Cup.

He is still going as well as ever, picking up a winner at Gatton last month.

Norman prides himself on being hands-on with his horses, aiming to not have a massive stable so he can keep a close eye on them.

He recalls the days of having 17 in work at one stage but prefers having between eight and 10 on his books.

Not many people nearing 90 years of age are handling big thoroughbred horses for a day job.

But, for Norman, he thrives on it and declares that he wants to keep moving and being active for as long as possible.

He believes preparing his small team of horses out of the Gold Coast keeps his mind and body ticking along.

And, in a true testament to his attitude and reputation, Norman is thinking of others when he answers how long he will continue to train for.

“I do not know how long I will go for, I have got a couple of girls who work for me that need a job and a few good clients,” Norman said.

“They are relying on me to keep going.

“I will keep going, I do not want to sit on the back porch and do nothing, I want to keep going forward.”