John Tapp Racing

It was great to catch up with John Wallace recently for the first time in several years. The veteran trainer has a great passion for the racing game, and it shows in his all too rare interviews. We pinned him down recently for a long overdue podcast about a career that started in St George more than 50 years ago. John begins by talking about his recovery from some pretty serious health issues. He talks of the nine horse team he has in work today- a far cry from the huge numbers he was training twenty years ago. He makes special mention of a certain 3YO. John talks about his early life as the son of a publican at Maryborough. He was eight years old when the family moved to another pub 600km away. The veteran trainer says he learned the language of racing from horsemen around the bar at the Metro Hotel. He recalls meeting a young man who was destined to become a very high profile steward in later years. John says he had to put his age up in order to acquire a Queensland trainer’s licence. He got away with it. H