THERE’S a well-known saying in the sport of horse racing – there are only two places on Earth where all men are equal, on the turf or under it.

It refers to the fact that the Sport of Kings draws people from all walks of life, who mingle at race meetings without a care for the social status of who they are talking to – the only thing that matters is what they know about the horses in front of them.

Portland resident Ronnie Parsons knows all about it too – he’s mixed with them all and like many in the sport has seen plenty of highs and lows, even after he went on to do other things.

From being involved with some of the great names of the turf and business world, he hit a low in Portland in 2017 when he tried to take his own life, shortly after being arrested and charged with theft – he later served a short stretch in jail for the crime.

But Mr Parsons is still with us, part of the furniture down at the foreshore where he works hard gutting tuna, around the city on his mobility vehicle, often with his parrots Richo (named after the star from his beloved Richmond Football Club) and Harry on his shoulders, or keeping himself busy making barbecues, trailers and other things.

Yet those that don’t know him well might not realise some fascinating insights from the former jockey’s past – a direct link to the greatest racehorse of them all, Phar Lap, being among them.

Brushes with history

Mr Parsons was born in Ballarat 67 years ago and grew up in Sebastopol, where his 95-year-old father still lives.

‘Grew up’ might be a bit of a misnomer, as he was only three stone six pounds (22kg) at the age of 15.

For someone so small, horse racing might have seen an obvious choice of occupation, but young Ronnie’s introduction to the animal came at the age of five through Max Power, a local horseman who would go on to become Mayor of Sebastopol Shire.

“He was the best horseman I ever knew of,” Mr Parsons said.

“He was a fantastic fella. We were breaking in horses and then I went to Noel Kelly (later to become a famous Ballarat trainer) riding out ponies to work every morning.”

At 15, and not interested in school, a friend of his parents got young Ronnie a job with Tommy Woodcock, then training at the Epsom racecourse at Mordialloc (now closed) but who achieved his equine immortality as the strapper of Phar Lap, being with the champion when he died suddenly in the US.

Mr Parsons spent three years with Woodcock, riding work and doing the general duties of a stable hand – Woodcock lived in nearby Mentone, where he originally trained, but when that track closed down he moved the actual training to Mordialloc.

“You started at $5/week and it went up $5 each year,” Mr Parsons said.

“I wasn’t even allowed to use a pitchfork in the stables, you had to muck out by hand and you had to do it with a horse whip in one hand so you got used to holding something – (Woodcock) was very particular.”

Reminders of Phar Lap were all about him.

“He (Woodcock) would have talked about Phar Lap but I just never heard it,” Mr Parsons said.

“I was sleeping with Phar Lap stuff around me all the time, it was in the house everywhere.”

Mr Parsons also had a bit to do with some well-known horses – the Winder family from New Zealand used to stable their horses with Woodcock when they travelled over for the spring carnival, and Mr Parsons became familiar with Ben Lomond and Skint Dip (third and fourth in the Melbourne Cups of 1969 and 1970 respectively).

Then there were the owners – among the high-profile ones were Sir Reginald Ansett and Moonee Valley Racing Club chairman Bill Stutt, along with the Godfrey and Hinchliffe families who would play major roles in the last years of Woodcock’s life.

Mr Parsons recalls many stories about the rich and famous of the time- he remembers Sir Reginald getting a surprise electric shock when he came to visit a horse he had in the stables.

In those days electric fencing wire was sometimes strung around a stable to stop a horse ‘windsucking’ (where a horse sucks in air for no apparent reason, sometimes grabbing on to something hard, such as the timber of a stable as it does so).

“Sir Reg Ansett got the biggest shock ever,” Mr Parsons said.

“Tommy was very, very hard but he had a very good sense of humour too and loved playing pranks with all of his best mates.

“It was nothing for him to put the wire up through a wheat bag and they’d get a shock.”

It was near the end of his time there that the Godfrey family sent a young colt to the stables, and Mr Parsons helped Woodcock break him in.

“The owners bred him and knew he was going to be a really good horse,” Mr Parsons said.

“But when we broke him in you wouldn’t know how good he was going to be.

“After he broke him in, we would throw cats on his back and they would just ride around on him, anyone could lie down with him, that’s how Tommy had all his horses.”

That colt was named Reckless and for a long time it seemed he wasn’t going to be much good at all.

He was winless in his first 33 starts – more often than not unable to be anywhere near the winner – before finally breaking through at Flemington of all places.

But in 1977, well after Mr Parsons’ time with Woodcock, horse and trainer captured the hearts of the nation as Reckless remarkably won the Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane Cups before being aimed at the first Tuesday in November.

Perhaps the most iconic photograph in Australian racing history has Woodcock sleeping with Reckless in his stall leading up to the Cup – mindful maybe of when he had to do the same thing with Phar Lap, the subject of a nobbling attempt in 1930 when someone tried to shoot him before he won the Cup a few days later.

The fairytale didn’t quite come true however, with Reckless (who wore Phar Lap’s head collar) running well but finishing second to Gold and Black, trained by Bart Cummings, a man who would become even more synonymous with the great race.

Riding to win

By then, Mr Parsons was back in Ballarat, deciding to try to make his mark as a jockey.

For a young apprentice, it was a great place to learn, with 18 hopefuls in the ranks (including Garry Murphy and Wayne ‘Smokey’ Treloar, later top riders in Melbourne) and plenty of senior riders to also learn from.

Mr Parsons remembers his first day race-riding – it was also at Ballarat and by now he weighed 40kg – and he had seven rides, of which Trualla supplied him with his first winner.

He then moved up to Murtoa and over his short career rode more than 200 winners in the bush, never getting a go in Melbourne.

The best horse he rode in a race was Barren Moor, on who he won 11 races.

It’s a statistic he keeps in his head along with his 14 eight-ball pool trophies (13 in Ballarat and one in Portland).

But at 21, he gave race riding away.

“I rode a little bit more but just couldn’t be bothered,” Mr Parsons said.

“I just rode trackwork after that.”

There was also the pain – some of which he suffers to this day – from various falls and other incidents, an occupational hazard of a horse rider, particularly a jockey on highly-strung thoroughbreds.

Some of the pain was due to his temperament – ‘small man syndrome’ ringing true.

“I was a cocky little pr..k,” Mr Parsons said.

“I’d get bashed nearly every day in the stables for that by two other track riders just because I was small and voiced my opinion and they didn’t like it.

“I hate being in pain, I’ve been in pain all me life.”

A five-year stint on the Gold Coast with trainer John Wallace followed, also enjoyable, before he became involved in horse healing, again back in Ballarat with Barry Templeton.

“He’d put an ad in the paper say he was going to Albury-Wodonga showgrounds and we’d get 200 horses there,” Mr Parsons said.

“I’ve always got on well with horses and I could do anything with them.

“I still fix horses, dogs, cats, people, anything. Is till get a lot of people coming here (to his South Portland shed) wanting me to fix them.

“And I do it just with my hands. I know what I can do and unfortunately there’s not that many of us left that can do it.”

Mr Parsons has been on an invalid pension since 1985, spending two years in hospital with a shattered left leg he got on Remembrance Day that year – not from horses or shooting his mouth off, but when he tried to jump a snake that came across his path and landed awkwardly.

“I had to learn to walk three times,” he said.

“Every part of me has been broken everywhere… ah well, it could be worse, I could be not here telling this story.”

A time of despair and joy

Also a keen fisherman, Mr Parsons moved to Portland 11 years ago, and while it has been tough at times, he’s enjoyed it on the whole.

“I wouldn’t leave it,” he said.

“I’ve got a roof over my head and I can do anything I want to do which is great.”

But there’s also been trouble – Mr Parsons has been before the courts more than once and in 2018 he was convicted and sentenced to 45 days’ jail for the theft of a caravan from a Cape Bridgewater property.

After his arrest in November 2017, he attempted suicide.

“I got pretty low but I’m a different man now,” he said.

“Since those days I’ve moved on – I haven’t had alcohol for three-and-a-half years and I don’t go to pubs.

“I go down to the foreshore nearly every day filleting tuna for people and I’ve been doing that for 10 years.

“Clean, clean, clean, clean, clean since those issues – I’ve really worked hard but what can you do about the past?

“I was between a rock and a hard place and I was misled by a younger guy I shouldn’t have listened to.

“Ever since then the coppers even call in here to see how I’m doing and I’ve got a good communication with police.

“Everyone loves Ronnie in Portland and I love having a joke, I love having laughter and I’ve got no enemies known.”

And he still has plenty of passion.

“I love horses, I love me animals and I’ve enjoyed what I’ve done,” Mr Parsons said.

“I’ve always got something to do fixing things for people.”

● Support is available for anyone in distress by contacting Lifeline on 131 114, MensLine on 1300 789 978 (or online at mensline.org.au), or Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800 (or at kidshelpline.com.au).