George Weate – A Moorefield Jockey
Information received on September 4 2021 from George’s sister, Pauline, who lives in Bundaberg, Queensland.
George was apprenticed to Jim Mc Curley and rode for Mr F.W Hughes. When he came out of his apprenticeship, he bought a house at 15 Lakeside Avenue, Monterey. This was possibly in 1946.
George rode Columnist when he was trained by Jack Packer. Pauline said that she used to go to the Packer’s house in Burlington Street, which was near to where we lived. When Jack died, the horse went to another trainer, and George lost the ride.
I checked my post to annefield.net.au on Columnist to confirm that Jack, Frank Packer’s uncle died of a stroke on August 2 1947. Columnist went briefly to Randwick to trainer, Maurice McCarten. Billy Childs was then sent to Melbourne to take charge of 2 Melbourne starts for Columnist. Columnist returned to Randwick to trainer Charlie Cullen, and was retired to stud in 1949.
Pauline said that she remembered Magnificent. She said that we did have a photo of George at Doomben Racecourse in Brisbane when he went up to ride Magnificent in the Doomben ten Thousand , as it was then called .
George rode for the Gaekwar (Maharajah) of Baroda, the Rajah of Ramnad, and the Nizam of Hyderabad. He brought home two exceptional solid silver trophies, which were gifted to him by the owners of the horses when he won a big race. The Madras Cup rings a bell. He was in India with his wife, possibly during the 1947/1948 period and home in early 1949.
Pauline said that her nephew, Joe has winning photos of George – stating the name of the horse, the owner, the trainer, the jockey and the race.
George was tragically dead at age 27, so his career was short- lived.
I went to school with Shirley Davis, whose father i believe was a trainer at Moorefield and Margaret Dais whose father was Les Davis, a jockey. Later on, I became friends with Dawn Vidler whose uncle i believe trained at Moorefield.
I remember a turf writer by the name of Bob Kent, who lived in President Avenue, at the beachfront end. We used to visit his house quite often. He was a fan of my brothers.
On checking Trove an article dated May 21 1949 stated that George decided to retire as a jockey because of increasing weight. He was given a no 2 trainer licence by the AJC Committee yesterday.
The article stated that George had returned from a successful visit to India, when Columnist was narrowly beaten by Vagabond on April 2 1949.
