Graeme Johannesen has stepped through the story of an ungainly pacer who'd become an all-time great trotter in the latest Tooth Be Told podcast for HRV's Trots Media channel.
"My first trotter I got was a thing called True Roman, I've tried to get one better than him but few are," Johannesen told host Paul Campbell in a wide-ranging chat.
Johannesen shares how the winner of more than half-a-million in stakes would end up in his hands.
"Ronny Pocock had gone to Sydney and bought the mother of True Roman, and True Roman was going through the yearling sales, so he decided he would buy it and get it going and that would help make a name for the mare so he could sell the foals," Johannesen said.
"True Roman was a terrible pacer, but anyway Ronny said to me you are friends with those Langs, I will send him out and you can work him for a month and see how you get on and see if you can sell him.
"I worked him in probably June and July and Tommy (Allen) came up and said, 'oh, you've got a trotter'. I said do you think he would go well enough to win a two-year-old. He said, 'oh, a bit late in the season'. And I said, 'but he's only one'. He said, 'you go home and buy whatever share you can in him, because he is just a natural'."
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