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Monday, 6 September 2010
Jockey Danny Frahm Calls It Quits After Nearly 50 Years
By Bill Poulos

Moree jockey Danny Frahm has officially retired from riding for medical reasons after serving the racing industry for nearly 50 years.

The veteran rider, who turns 64 this month, was advised by doctors not to return to the saddle after suffering neck injuries in a fall at Armidale earlier this year.

“I still suffer numbness in my upper limbs and it seems that will be with me for quite a while,” Frahm said.

He underwent further surgery at Newcastle early today [Monday 6th September] and his wife Mireille said doctors were happy with the operation.

“Everything went very well; the doctors are extremely pleased – we are all very happy,” she said.

Frahm, who had his first ride in a race at Southport in 1960, fell from Nomadic Prince after the field passed the winning post in a minor race at Armidale’s Guyra Cup meeting in mid-March.

“It was a simple fall ... I just fell the wrong way, I suppose,” Frahm said.

Frahm is regarded an icon on bush tracks. The jockey, who lists Prunda and River Ridge as the best horses he’s ridden, won seven north and north-west riding premierships as well as all the major bush cups in the area – all bar one.

“I’ve won every cup in the north and north-west at least once except for the Tamworth Cup – the best I could do in that race was fourth,” Frahm said.

Frahm also made regular trips to New Caledonia, where he proved a dominant force.

In 1987 Frahm won the New Caledonian jockeys’ premiership when he rode 36 winners from just 53 rides and the following year collected the Coup Clark Cup for leading French trainer Claude Lafleur aboard Mightor – the eight-year-old stallion’s fourth win in the race.

“The year I won the race was Mightor’s last start before retirement,” Frahm said. “He was hopelessly out of form at the time and a funny old horse to ride – you couldn’t hit him with the whip.”

Frahm’s career has been punctuated with major injuries over the years. He’s broken just about every bone in his body – some of them more than once – and lost a kidney a few years back.

He miraculously escaped injury in the horrific Inverell Cup pile-up in 1989 but four years later was sidelined for 12 months after breaking his neck in a fall at Gunnedah.

“I’ve broken my neck twice, both arms and legs, and my ribs, but that’s part of the game I suppose; a risk all jockeys have to take,” he said.

Surprisingly, Frahm has no immediate desire to take up training – a natural progression for many jockeys who opt out of the saddle.

“Training is a tough game at the moment, especially the way the races are benchmarked now,” Frahm said. “I’ll just take things as they come but I’m sure I’ll be kept busy – there’s always something that needs to be done,” he smiled.

NOTE: An expanded feature article on Danny Frahm [by Bill Poulos] will appear in the October '10 issue of Racing NSW Magazine