ONE of the stalwarts of Tasmania's harness racing industry David Rawlings was honoured last week by being presented with a Meritorious Service Award from Harness Racing Australia.
Rawlings, a long term active participant in many aspects of Tasmanian harness racing including ownership, breeding, training, driving and administration, was presented with his award at the Burnie Harness Racing Club's annual general meeting at the BHRC's Wivenhoe Showground complex last Friday night.
Rawling's initial involvement in harness racing was in the early 70's when, at approximately 24 years of age, he began shoeing harness horses for prominent North West Coast trainer Jack Rosier.
About 12 months later, Rawlings and his brother-in-law Ken Gilliard purchased their first horse, Lager Lad and the gelding was trained by Kim Devlin at Latrobe. Lager Lad won three races and was sold to the USA.
Their next purchase was Liza Storm and no one could have imagined what followed. Rawlings obtained a trainer/drivers licence and the 5YO mare won at her first three starts, in the space of 14 days, before being retired to stud due to injury.
Rawlings and Gillard went foal for foal and Rawlings ended up with the cream of her offspring. His first was Thorate who was by King Kellanie, a stallion that had been given to David's wife Anne.
Thorate was not trained or driven by Rawlings but the stallion was a star of Australian harness racing winning 70 of his 136 race starts and finishing second or third 32 times for $1,329,345 in stakes.
Thorate won the 1990 Inter Dominion in Adelaide and many other Grand Circuit races during the five years that he competed at the elite level. In 1990 he was named Australian Horse of The Year by the Australian Harness Racing Council (AHRC).
Other prolific winners from Liza Storm were Stormrate (21 wins from 61 starts) and Adorate (14 wins from 44 starts). Liza Storm stands alone as a pacing broodmare in Australian harness racing history.
Three times she was awarded the Australian Broodmare of The Year by the AHRC – 1988 (tie with Sally Alla), 1989 and 1990. Other mares have won the award twice but none have completed the treble except the trotting broodmare Maori Miss (1977 – 1979).
Rawlings was a trainer-driver from 1975 to 2000. His wins included the 1980 Easter Plate with Rowans Rhythm and nine victories with Tyrolean, including one at Moonee Valley.
He was required to hand in his licences when he was elected to the Harness Racing Tasmania (HRT) Board in 2001. He remained on the HRT Board until it was disbanded in 2009 and Tasracing became the new governing body.
His stint on the North West Tasmania Light Harness Association committee was for almost 20 years and he was a committee member of the Tasmanian Standardbred Breeders Association for the short time that it existed. He has represented the BHRC at Tasracing Harness Industry Forum meetings since 2009.
Rawlings' involvement with the Burnie Harness Racing Club (BHRC) started in 1976 and he remains an active committeeman. While his title has always been 'committeeman' his influence in the growth and innovation of the club is well known throughout Tasmania.
Peter Staples