Those who knew Tony Chisholm knew resilience. Their good mate epitomised it every day.
He suffered many setbacks in his life, more than most, but the Camperdown harness racing enthusiast displayed a spirit and steely resolve most of us could only envy.
Those close to him say he set goals and ticked them off. Then set more goals and went about achieving those, too.
“He set a few,” said Jason Lee, who described Chisholm as “like another uncle”.
“One of his main ones was to win a race in town.”
Of course that happened in January this year via Big Bang Leonard with Lee in the sulky at Melton.
Chisholm’s final big trots goal was to see his two-year-old pacer Batman Barry win. He bred the horse and last month at Ararat witnessed the son of Big Jim score an impressive win.
Chisholm fought a long and brave battle with throat cancer. He defied several forecasts from doctors, but in the finish it was the one race he could not conquer. He died peacefully surrounded by close friends on Sunday. He was 69.
Chisholm, who had also raced horses with David Murphy and Michael Barby, has had an ever-increasing association with the Lee family in recent years. In fact he became part of the family, attending celebrations.
Lee recalled a story from the trials one morning about seven years ago when Chisholm asked him to drive his talented but unruly veteran pacer Scott Patrick. The horse had made a habit of unexpected right-hand turns on the track, and he tried it with Lee.
“We just grew closer and closer after that morning. His numbers grew from one or two to five or six, he started coming around home to do fast work and became real good family friends,” Lee said.
“We were good to him and he was good to us. It was a two-way street. He probably knew a long time ago he didn’t have a lot of years left in the tank, but he just kept on climbing every hurdle.
“He lived life to the fullest for a bloke who had a real hard time and so much heartbreak in his life. He was always able to get up and put a smile on. I just had so much respect for the way he went about it.
“The best way to put it would be that it was a privilege to be a part of his life.”
Matt and Glen Craven had driven for Chisholm, too. In fact Matt drove Chisholm’s first ever winner as a trainer in Gnotuk at Stawell on March 13, 2013.
Chisholm won 10 races with Gnotuk and also had success with Itisgolden, Lets Save The Day, Dawn In The Valley, Miss Condoleezza, Dundees Desire and Emma Jade.
“He didn’t always have the best stock but he put plenty into the industry,” Lee said.
“He loved it. He said working around home made him feel like he was 18 or 25 again.
“As he got older he got more mellow. It’s funny, if you had a different opinion to him or a disagreement he’d go away and think it through and then he’d come back to you and either say ‘I’ve thought about that and changed my mind’, or he’d says he’s sticking with it.”
Tomorrow night Harness Racing Victoria stewards have Chisholm’s horse, Batman Barry, to race under his late trainer’s name one last time.
Lee will drive and he’ll don the green, white diamond and gold sleeves Chisholm colours.
“He was still pretty active right up the last 10 days or so,” Lee said. “He was in and out of hospital but right to the end he was actually saying to the nurses, ‘get on Race 4 No.4 at Terang if I’m not here anymore’.”
A requiem mass to give thanks for the life of Chisholm will be held at St Patrick’s Catholic Church, Walls St, Camperdown, at 1.30pm on Tuesday July 2. The burial will follow at the Camperdown Cemetery.
HRV extends sincere condolences to the family and friends of Tony Chisholm.