Champion trainer Tony McEvoy to be inducted into South Australian Racing Hall of Fame

News.com.au

14 hours ago

When Tony McEvoy was notified he would be inducted into the South Australian Racing Hall of Fame, his first thought was disbelief.
Legendary trainers such as Colin Hayes, Bart Cummings and John Hawkes have been members for more than two decades, and now McEvoy, a Group 1-winning jockey and trainer, will sit in their company.
'It makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck when you mention those names,' McEvoy, a six-time champion Adelaide trainer, said.
'It's very humbling, I'm very proud of my journey, and proud of what I've been able to achieve.
'To have people see you in the light that they've seen me, to put me in this esteemed company – is quite incredible.'
McEvoy, 64, left home at the age of 11, and was riding in races at 14, he won the Group 1 SA Oaks aboard the Colin Hayes-trained Deesse in 1977.
After over 100 wins as an apprentice jockey, weight struggles saw him eventually turn his hand to training, from foreman at Lindsay Park, to training in his own right, he formed McEvoy Mitchell Racing with friend and businessman Wayne Mitchell in 2011, who's been a long-time supporter.
McEvoy has now prepared over 2400 winners, including 16 Group 1 wins – five in partnership with son, Calvin, who has been co-trainer with him since 2019.
Despite those accolades, McEvoy was surprised when told he had been chosen by the SA Hall of Fame panel to be inducted on SA Racing Awards night (September 6).
'It was incredible, the phone call, I didn't quite believe it when I first heard it,' he said.
'I felt very honoured, it meant a lot to me the phone call.
'It's an industry that I've made my life and to be recognised this way is quite incredible.'
A Hall of Fame career isn't built without sacrifice, McEvoy is aware such success came at a cost.
The racing game has no off-season, and the schedule is unrelenting.
Unwavering support from wife, Jo, and children, Calvin and Eliza, ensured McEvoy could maintain commitment to his remarkable career.
'I've committed my life to it, I love it of course, but when something like this happens, it makes you think about the people that have given you the opportunity to do it,' he said.
'The people that are close to you are the people that suffer on these journeys because you are so committed to what you do, the people close to you don't get you as much as they want you.
'I think that's the case with my wife, and my kids when they were younger … there was no way I was going to get the father of the year title.'
McEvoy met Jo at the Angaston-based Lindsay Park, and she's always understood the demands of the racing game.
'She fully understands it and is fully supportive, without her support, I couldn't have done half the things I've been able to do,' McEvoy said.
'There's also the other people that have given you the opportunity to do well, that starts with your parents of course, when you're a kid, putting you on the right path.
'I've got five brothers, we were all taught from a very young age, you just work hard and try and be as good as you can be, and things will happen for you.
'We've never had any money at any time of our lives, us McEvoys – but I feel we've all had rich lives.
'We've lived our lives well, we've worked hard and got rewarded for it. When I think that back on my journey, it's been lovely and incredible.'
McEvoy's first boss was legendary horseman Bill Holland, after leaving home, he lived in a caravan at his Streaky Bay stables, and that kickstarted the journey.
'He put me on the path initially, he was an incredible man Billy Holland, a great person, a very good trainer and very good jockey in his day,' he said.
'He probably did all the hard yards because he got me to a stage where I was competent and that's when Colin Hayes picked me up.
'Colin, thankfully took me under his wing, he liked me, and gave me tremendous opportunities for the rest of my time there (Lindsay Park).'
McEvoy shut down his SA training base in 2022, making a full-time move to Victoria, but he remains a proud croweater.
'I'm a very passionate South Australian. Racing there has always been very good to me,' he said.
'Sadly my business forced me to move when racing in South Australia was going through some tough times.
'I personally couldn't see that it was going to improve and I had to make a decision for my business to expand in Victoria.
'Not long after I left SA, things picked up there and racing seems to be going very, very well there.
'That was unfortunate for me, but I was very pleased for all the people in the industry, that they could see some light at the end of the tunnel again.'
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McEvoy won the 2003 Cox Plate with Fields of Omagh, and Group 1s with wonder filly Sunlight, it's over 50 years in the industry flooded with achievement, yet a Hall of Fame honouring is at the summit.
'It would have to be the pinnacle for me, being inducted into the Hall of Fame,' he said.
'That phone call I got the other day, makes you reflect on all the good times, the bad times, and I think reflection – it's something I never really do much of.
'Having ridden a Group 1 winner, trained some Group 1 winners, and in an elite race like the Cox Plate, they are amazing things to happen to you, but I think this puts the icing on the cake for me.'
McEvoy joins his nephew, three-time Melbourne Cup-winning hoop, Kerrin McEvoy, Colin Hayes, and training peer, David Hayes, in the SA Racing Hall of Fame.
Star South Australian colt, Sometime, who won the 1963 Caulfield Cup, joins McEvoy as a 2025 inductee.