Fate and a lifelong passion for harness racing is why Ron Anderson is still chasing feature races as he nears his 94th birthday.
Anderson, who had long-serving roles on the Harness Racing Victoria board and at the Geelong Harness Racing Club and was awarded an OAM, said a flat no when New Zealand agent Peter Larkin rang him more than three years ago saying he should buy a lightly raced three-year-old pacer.
“I told Peter ‘look, I’m 90 years old and not buying any more horses,” Anderson said.
“Peter kept going, saying I was getting him cheap and he’d do a great job and I really should take him.
“I still said no until he said what his name was … Hes From Heaven.”
That’s where fate came in.
“That call from Peter was on the Sunday and just three days earlier I’d had a good chat on the phone with a lifelong friend, Len Chalkley. It was a great catch-up, but you wouldn’t believe it, at 8am the next morning Len passed away,” Anderson recalled.
“So, when Peter told me the horse’s name, I thought it was fate. I looked to the sky and said ‘Len, maybe this is meant to be’, and I bought the horse.”
Hes From Heaven has since taken his record to 12 wins and 10 placings from 40 starts, with prize money of $169,384, and is one of the emerging free-for-all pacers in Victoria.
“He’s given us (Anderson and his wife, Marg) so many happy moments and he’s still on the up,” Anderson said.
“He’s not going to match it with those champions, but he’s a pretty good horse with speed and he can stay, too.”
Hes From Heaven has taken a solid step into free-for-all racing with a win and three placings from his past five starts and steps out again in the sixth race at Melton on Saturday night.
“He ran third the other night, but Mark (Pitt, driver) said he went super times and has a lot of belief in the horse,” Anderson said. “He just can’t seem to get a decent draw and we’ve got another bad one in gate seven this week, but I’m sure he’ll run well again.”
Anderson, who founded the hugely successful APCO fuel company with Margaret in 1968, lives on the beachfront in Geelong and said Hes From Heaven’s arrival into free-for-all racing was part of a big year.
“That’s been a thrill. I also turn 94 on September 21 and, most importantly, Margaret and I have our 70th wedding anniversary on September 10,” he said.
“It’s going to be a big celebration because we’ve got a huge family. We had six kids and have 22 grandchildren and now 18 great grandchildren.
“I’m getting on and I don’t know if I’ll live another month, another year or another two years, but having this horse is giving me something to follow and look forward to.
“Harness racing has been my passion and it’s been fantastic to me and my life.
“I really got interested when I met Leo O’Connor, who owned and trained champion Gammalite at Terang. I’ve had lots of horses and some really nice ones, too, Flaming Flutter and Western Light would be two of the best.”
Flaming Flutter was placed in two Inter Dominion finals when second to Beautide in March, 2015 and third to Lennytheshark in December, 2015.
Western Light won 27 races, including a heat of the 2003 Christchurch Inter Dominion, and fifth in the final to Baltic Eagle.
