Errol French – one of country NSW’s most prolific horse owners – has been remembered as a wonderful racing man who will be sorely missed by the industry.
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French passed away, aged 73, late last week following an extended battle with illness.
“He’ll be a very big loss to racing, and also to the people that work for him,” Tamworth trainer Stephen Dixon said.
French raced horses in NSW for over 30 years, and records show that since 2000 he registered at least 170 horses in his sole ownership.
The bulk of his horses were easily recognised by racegoers, as the vast majority included the word Blinkin in their name.
The majority of his horses were prepared by Ross Stitt at Taree. However at the time of his passing, he had horses in work with Stitt, Dixon, fellow Tamworth trainers Sue Grills and Craig Clegg, and Clint Lundholm at Dubbo.
Dixon’s association with French stretches back over 20 years.
“When I moved down from Inverell 21-22 years ago, he was one of the first blokes I ever worked for,” Dixon said.
“I actually started breaking horses in, and he asked me to train a couple for him – and that’s how it all kicked off.”
French was one of the only owners Dixon trained for – and was a “great bloke”.
“You wouldn’t get a better bloke to work for,” Dixon said.
“He was honest and loved his horses a lot.”
Over the years he trained probably 60-70 horses for French.
“He’d get real excited when his horses won,” he said.
They enjoyed their share of success over the years – among them Old Drover, and Blinkin Trying, which won a maiden at Coonamble in 2016.
Grills’ training relationship with French started about four years ago but she had “known him for years” before then.
“He had a marvellous contribution to country racing,” she said, adding that there wouldn’t be too many people who had owned as many horses as French had over the years and raced them on their own.
She believes that she probably prepared seven horses for him.
“He was a great client, always good to train for,” she said.
At the time of his passing, she was training two horses for him – Blinkin Fast and Blinkin Snazzy.
“We had three good wins with Blinkin Fast,” she said.
Blinkin Snazzy was third at Inverell on Saturday.
Fittingly, he will be commemorated at Tamworth Racecourse at 10.30am on Thursday.
