Pascoe guided by the late Jim Atkins' influence

By Glenn Davis

Hall of Fame trainer, the late Jim Atkins, has been a major influence on the career of young Toowoomba trainer Troy Pascoe.

Pascoe was living in Lismore in Northern NSW when he made a brave decision to pack his bags and head to Toowoomba hoping to join the Atkins stable.

“I was born in Ipswich but I spent most of my life at Lismore,” Pascoe said.

“My family moved to Melbourne but we only stayed a few months because it was so cold.

“We were on our way back to Ipswich and stopped off at Lismore and we liked it so much we ended up staying there for 15 years.”

Pascoe hadn’t been near a horse at Lismore but loved racing and had dreamt about being a foreman for the late Jim Atkins.

“I moved up to Toowoomba in the hope of joining J.J.'s stables and I started off working for a local trainer for nothing for a few months,” he said.

“I then moved across to Phillip and Tracy Wolfgram’s place. They had a pre-training business at the time when a job popped up to join the Atkins stable.

“I was only there for four months when I was appointed Jim’s foreman.”

Pascoe said Jim Atkins was easily the biggest influence on his 12-year training career.

“He taught me everything I know and he was an unbelievable mentor,” Pascoe said.

“He had an incredible memory and unbelievable eye for a horse.

“He would look at a horse that everyone thought could win and say he was a run short and it would win next start."

Pascoe trains at Westbrook on Toowoomba’s outskirts and since starting his training career, has had 803 starters for 90 wins and 177 placings for a winning strike rate of 11.2 per cent.

He’s hoping to improve his statistics when he heads to Toowoomba with two starters on Thursday.

Liza In Lights will tackle the Maiden Handicap over 1625 metres while Gulf Country resumes after a two-year break in the Class 3 Handicap over 1000 metres.

“I’ve also got Buckaltius in the Class 3 but he’s drawn bad so I’ll probably wait another day with him,” he said.

Pascoe and a few friends recently leased Gulf Country from well-known Oakey vet David Pascoe.

“He’s a six-year-old and has been working well. He’ll race well but he might need the run as he hasn’t raced for more than two years,” he said.

“There’s nothing wrong with him and I’m not sure why he’s been on the sidelines for so long.”

Gulf Country was previously trained by Tony Gollan and has started only four times for a win and two placings.

At his last appearance Gulf Country finished second to Sir Warwick in a 1200 metre Class 1 Handicap at Eagle Farm in September, 2021.