Racehorse TALK

Now he is a high class Bus Driver on Sydneys Northern area - Hornsby.

Does he still have that long hair and freckles and look like an unplayable lie?
Bus driver? Must be low dash boards in them buses 

Hope he is at least 2 lengths clear before changing lanes.  

sad isn't it

Not really, beleive it or not and i should add apparently he enjoys buses, much like some people enjoy trains and other things he apparently enjoys buses.

Pictured here after winning the 1973 Jockey's title with runner-up Peter Cook

so hes still wealthy,but just doing it out of love huh,well i'll be

Ahh Peter Cook...another blast from the past.

Pete was doing it tough a few years ago with depression...I think he was living up in the Gold Coast hinterland area.

That is why i underlined and highlighted apparently, i found it a little hard to believe.

so you should find it hard to believe

I love buses too      Particularly when they pull straight off the kerb into the traffic 

Heavy traffic? Langby is the man for the job

Max Presnell
April 9, 2009

Bet odds-on the bus. Just like Imagele in the 1973 AJC Derby, piloted by Kevin Langby, it will begin quickly, take the shortest course and reach the destination in the designated time.

Langby, an outstanding jockey for about 26 years, built a remarkable career around those attributes and made a great contribution to Royal Randwick. "While I was apprenticed the AJC kept my money and for six years it did not earn any interest for me," he recalled in his aptly titled book Born To Ride. "I used to joke that some part of every new stand the AJC erected belonged to me."

But the memories are priceless . . . Racegoers roared as Langby figured in perhaps the greatest modern-day AJC Derby finish when Imagele came out on top of a three-horse war with Leica Lover and Grand Cidium. Also, he performed a major role in the most stunning theatre ever presented on that particular stage, once hailed as headquarters, when Gunsynd, making his farewell, bowed to the Queen Elizabeth Grandstand.

And the Randwick winners flowed freely. In his best season, Langby rode a record 121 winners (1973-74) to claim the Sydney jockeys' premiership. Without taking anything away from the greatness of Darren Beadman or others who subsequently topped Langby, they didn't face the same depth of opposition.

Langby's strength was his consistency. Be it a group 1 or a Canterbury midweek, he operated like a machine: fast out of the gates, into the box seat and strong at the finish. And he did so with little residual damage in his wake, incurring only seven suspensions.

Many will say his success was due to being Tommy Smith's stable jockey. Yes, but he continued to be a strong force, including in a Hong Kong stint, after Smith put him on the scrapheap.

Hong Kong is a good memory, particularly a $30,000 present from a grateful owner. "I won the race on his horse and he hadn't backed it to win but on the quinella," he recalled.

For the past 15 years Langby has been driving a bus on the North Shore in Sydney. "I know the short cuts," he quipped.

No complaints, he has always rolled with the punches of life and racing. Only recently he underwent serious surgery but was quickly back into the "saddle". You wonder whether passengers these days realise their driver was such a dynamic force on horseback.

Coming down the straight in the 1973 AJC Derby he was matched against Peter Cook (Leica Lover) and Mick Mallyon (Grand Cidium), worthy rivals of any era.

"I drew the outside but was in front going to the winning post the first time," Langby recalled this week. "I was shuffled back through the field but coming up the rise, something gave me a terrible bump, I think it was Craigwin. It put Imagele off and back on stride at the same time."

Onlookers reckon the control of Langby had a major bearing and he remembers Imagele fondly. "The word champion is loosely thrown around in racing," he argued. "I rode some very good horses but the one and only champion I ever rode was Imagele. Imagele's win in the 1973 AJC Derby is one I'll never forget. Imagele had a big heart as he showed to come back after the 1973 Golden Slipper.

"[Roy] Higgins missed the start on [eventual winner] Tontonan and I was on the fence going out of the chute. As we approached the 600 metres I was working off the fence to get out and Higgins revved up alongside me. His horse's shoulder hit Imagele's rump and screwed him a bit and I hit his heels."

Despite the best endeavours of the jockey, Imagele went down, sustaining four broken ribs.

"I didn't think he would come back but when he returned to work Imagele was as good as gold," the former jockey said, adding that he still figures he came out of what is regarded as one of Australia's roughest races "pretty good". "Generally I was lucky in the Slipper because I was up in the first few [in running]," he said. "John's Hope (his winner in 1972 from barrier 14) led and another, Toy Show (the winner three years later also from 14), was outside the leader."

Still he regards Royal Show (second to Baguette in 1970) as "a bit rough. But that [interference] was down the straight. Baguette came out . . ".

"I almost fell," he told stipes in the protest hearing against George Moore on the winner. The protest was dismissed. Moore alleged he was switching to avoid heels of a rival in front but he came out like Bob McCarthy on the boil. "Interference got worse over the years when the prizemoney went up," Langby added.

Langby was a great contributor to the Gunsynd legend with seven wins from 11 rides on the Goondiwindi grey. "I cannot class him as a champion," he commented. "He was simply a very good horse.

"Gunsynd's popularity had more to do with his personality. A famous photograph hangs in the AJC offices at Randwick when he bowed to the crowd before his farewell on April 28, 1973. On race days he would walk out of the enclosure, stand at the mounting-yard gate and turn his head to the grandstand and refuse to budge until he was applauded. Before trotting off he would bow his head three times. He loved the attention and the older he became the longer he stood, lapping up the crowd's acknowledgement."

Langby's major racing interest now centres around his granddaughter Tiffany Jeffries, making a name for herself in the bush with seven wins. "It's now a game for ladies," he explained. "They are the only ones light enough to ride most horses."

The second instalment of the Kevin Langby story with John Tapp can be seen on Sky Channel this Sunday.

The local Sparkie was over at my place this week to quote on a job and we ended up talking about racing. Apparently, after his wife gave birth to their second son, she was recovering in the same room as Langby's wife who had also given birth. He still regrets not asking Langby for a tip. 

yeh still lives here on the coast  pete.....