Vale Danny Frahm: Legendary jockey remembered as true gentleman

Danny Frahm sadly lost his battle with cancer and was laid to rest on Monday, but with a career half a century in the saddle his legacy will live on.

Danny was born in Bowen in north Queensland and moved to Brisbane where at 13 he began working for the stable of Harry Hatten at Eagle Farm.

He was offered an apprenticeship at 14 and made his debut at the Gold Coast. Not long after, he had his first win aboard 'Come Lucky' at Gympie.

It was with Hatten that Frahm had a win at Eagle Farm with legendary QLD horse Prunda who went on to win 30-odd races. "A lot of people don't know but he was blind in one eye," Frahm explained once.

After having his indentures transferred to another legend of the sport, Ron Conquest, Frahm gave up his licence before he completed his apprenticeship. He was struggling with his weight and wasn't focused on the job.

He went playing football and found himself in the southern QLD border town of Goondiwindi - home to the famous 'Goondiwindi grey' racehorse, Gunsynd.

After two years off, Frahm had a fresh start riding track work for local trainer Mick O'Shea.

In 1966 Frahm had his licence back and the following year moved just south of the border to Moree where he stayed briefly.

Frahm then moved to nearby Inverell as there was a shortage of jockeys, and was successful there until 1970. This is also where he struck a lifelong friendship with fellow accomplished horseman, Leon Fox, while he was working for his father.

But it was when he moved to Barraba next, where he stayed for eight years, that Frahm quickly became one of the most sought-after jockeys in NSW.

He linked up with Geoff and Trevor Smith and spent 14 years riding for them. This is also where he had the opportunity to ride champion bush sprinter River Ridge.

"He would be the best horse I've ridden," Frahm once said. "I won the Lightning Stakes on him at Eagle Farm in 1975. He won nearly 50 races and I won 30 of them."

The Smith-trained Lady Bendina was Frahm's only Sydney winner.

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After the passing of his brother, Frahm again took some time off, and headed home to the north to work on a mango farm. He started riding again in Townsville when he was offered a contract to ride in New Caledonia for six months.

Frahm went to the island four times starting in the 80s. One season he won 36 races from 53 rides, winning the premiership. With race days only once a fortnight, he spent most of his time fishing. "It was a good life and a break away from the continuity of the job that race riding was in Australia," he said.

But more importantly, it was here that he met the love of his life, Mireille. "Danny said, 'do you want have a long life with me?' and I said yes. You have a unique kindness. It was a fairytale," Mireille recalled.

The pair married in Tamworth where they lived for six years and where Frahm worked for the Miller family.

Mireille and her mother became identities of their own throughout the country circuit. They joked that 'mum' was always dressed and ready a few hours before Danny. At every meeting, Mireille was there.

"We used to have to eat the sh** food they'd give us in the jockey's room but every meeting Mireille brought Danny in his own special salad and soy milk," fellow jockey Allan Robinson, who Danny thought of as a son, said at his funeral service. "Mireille would spoil him and was spoiling him till the end. She used to drive to the races so Danny could be fresh and we just said, he's soft."

Robinson met Frahm as an apprentice about 40 years ago. "I was the noisiest bloke in the room and Danny was the quietest but we got on from day one," he said.

"I remember my first ride against Danny was at Gunnedah. I'm on the fence and I can hear someone trying to get up inside me, and I couldn't believe it. So I pull up when we got back to the room and I said, 'Mr Frahm, I was on the fence and you were trying to get up inside me, is everything all good?' And he said, 'Yeah, don't think the aluminium rails worry me son: I used to run into split posts', and we just had a laugh. He was fearless.

"Another thing about Danny, was the respect he had in the room. You'd see these kids go over and talk to him and if old jockeys had problems, stewards had problems with us - usually me - they'd talk to Danny and Danny would talk to me, try and maintain us," Robinson said.

Danny suffered countless injuries during his time in the saddle including two broken necks, two broken legs, both arms, wrist, collarbone and also had a kidney removed, but still considered himself "blessed" not having experienced any head trauma.

After a serious fall in 1993 at Gunnedah the couple took a break and decided to run a laundromat at Coffs Harbour.

In 1996 Frahm was invited to ride by Moree's Sinclair family. He rode winners for three generations of trainers.

"I think the jockeys of Danny's time arguably saw the best of country racing as it was coming along," Peter Sinclair said. "But to their disadvantage, the jockeys of his era, they only raced once a week on Saturdays. The money that someone like Danny could earn now would be mind-boggling, if he was a young jockey just starting out."

But it wasn't just about the prize-money for Frahm. "I had a beautiful career, I did what I wanted," he said.

He won countless bush cups, some several times over. But one alluded him; Tamworth.

"It would have been nice to win, but it just wasn't to be."

He had plenty of opportunities to head to 'town' but he stayed loyal to his country supporters, always having a full book.

He had admiration for the likes of jockey Barry Stein and trainer Keith Swan, who he says was a good teacher to niece Sue Grills, who is now a well-known identity in the industry.

Frahm was also honoured with a NSW Country Racing Lifetime Achievement Award.

Looking back on his career to celebrate his 70th birthday, in 2016 Frahm told the Moree Champion, he wouldn't change a thing if he had to go back and do it all again.

"Racing has been extremely good to me," he said.

Frahm credited his longevity in the industry to hard work. "I've always kept myself fit and ridden a lot of track work," he said.

A fall in 2010 meant the end for Frahm's jockey career. While riding in an Armidale meet, his horse fell just after the finishing post.

"It just collapsed and I went over the head and fractured three vertebrae," he said. Unfortunately, they were the same three vertebrae Frahm fractured in the '93 fall. His doctor advised against racing again.

Frahm was still riding TAB meetings until he was 64-years-old. And while he lost count of the number of winners he rode, it must be upward of 1500. He won eight premierships in north and north-west NSW.

In his true fighting style, Frahm didn't give up on his horses completely. In 2012 he received his trainer's licence and did his own track work.

In 2013 Lightning Ridge author, Sandy Thorne, honoured Frahm by writing a book detailing the highs and lows of his career, plus a few of the funny stories along the way.

"Danny achieved a lot and has the most magnificent collection of trophies and awards that he has won," Thorne said. "He also has a big heart and has done a lot of good for others. There wouldn't be anyone in the racing industry who has a bad word to say about him," she said.

After his retirement, Robinson continued to ring the Frahms every month without fail.

"He loved my calls. And we would always join someone else in, whether it was Peter Losh who was very good mates with Danny and rode for a long time, or Neil Rae who was the leading rider at Muswelbrook and the Hunter Valley for probably 15 years. Waynie 'Turtle' Weate, a legend of the Dubbo area held Danny in very high esteem, as everyone did. One time we even rang Darren Beadman and had a great laugh.

"Bevan Turner, one of the most respected stewards in Australia, remembers (a fatal fall) at Tamworth, and he wouldn't have got through the day except for Danny. Ask Neil about Danny and he'd say he's a legend of the North West. Aaron Bullock, the leading rider in Newcastle, described him as a great teacher. Andrew Spriggs said he was the toughest he ever rode against.

"Three of the best ladies you would meet in racing, Leslie Jeffries, Sue Grills and Jane Clement all said they will miss Danny and thank him immensely for the part he played in all of their careers," Robinson said.

In 2015 after some medical issues, Frahm retired and received his cancer diagnosis two years later. In his final years the couple moved to Maryborough to be closer to specialist medical facilities but they loved their home. "We just love the country. The people are friendly and the community are one of a kind. I've had a wonderful career and have been pretty lucky to experience different places but there is just no place like the country," Frahm said.

As the illness took hold, Frahm was always positive. "He would always tell me not to worry about him, and would always bellow out, 'I'm as fit as a buck rat'," Robinson laughed.

When Mireille posted the news of Danny's passing, her Facebook post "lit up". There were countless comments describing Frahm as a true gentleman and a "bloody good bloke", a "true legend of the sport", a "wonderful horseman" who was "in a class of his own".

"I loved sharing the jockey's room with ya, I loved your advice, I loved your company, I loved your conversations and most of all, I loved ya mate. I respected you as a jockey, as a human, you will never be forgotten," Robinson said.

"If there's such a thing as a racecourse in the sky, I imagine Danny Frahm has just turned up to that racecourse and the first people he sees is (Darren) Jonesy having an argument with Noely Colvin that he wasn't ready when he let us go. (Danny) would be laughing."