Racing: Sporting life on racetrack for Jeff Wilson

Jeff Wilson will never forget the first harness race he won as an owner.

It was at Omakau on January 2, 1999, and Wilson had told all his cricketing mates Tamai Armistice couldn't win.

There was rough justice when she did. Wilson got so excited he tried to leap the birdcage fence, caught his shoe on the top wire and, as he says, face-planted in front of the crowd.

Shades of George Gregan knocking the ball out of his hands ... no, sorry, that's another story.

"I didn't care about any embarrassment at Omakau, it was one of the biggest thrills I've ever had. She sat three wide from the 1000m, won by a nose and paid plenty. My Dad had just recently died, but all the rest of my family were there."

You can live the passion and excitement that spill from Wilson as he tells this story, and it comes as no surprise he is about to be granted his harness racing professional trainer's licence.

Being a double international as an All Black and a Black Cap means a lot to Jeff Wilson, but he sees his future in the horse business.

There is a proud and strong racing culture in Wilson's Southland home province.

"Dad [Bill] used to take my brother Richard and me to every Southland race meeting. Dad was always a punter."

If a young Jeff Wilson hadn't been immersed into the horse sports by that, he got further lessons when he started playing cricket for Appleby.

Clearly no one in the club at that point was aware this was a young man who was going to represent his country at this sport because Wilson was made a specialist 12th man.

"Quite a few of the team liked racing and were keen punters. When our team were fielding and a race would come on, someone would come off to listen to how their bets performed and I'd have to field for them."

It obviously didn't hamper Wilson's learning of the game.

The ownership of Tamai Armistice had been arranged by Bill Wilson through a mate, longtime Southland trainer Alex Milne. It was at Milne's private track in 1997 that Jeff Wilson fell in love with the idea of becoming heavily involved with the driving and training of standardbreds.

"Alex threw me in the cart with a horse to jog. I thought I was going along at 100 miles an hour and it felt fantastic. It wasn't until much later when I started fast working them that I realised how slow I'd been going when only jogging."

Long before Tamai Armistice, all through Wilson's rugby and cricket, he and an uncle, John Wilson, had been breeding to a standardbred mare each year and one of the results is Shezfullarunning. She took her winning tally to six with a double at the Queen's Birthday Ashburton meeting and is highly fancied in the Marlborough Winter Cup tomorrow.

From the start of the new racing season on August 1, Wilson will be going into partnership with Ray Jenkins, whose training incorporates stables in Southland and Canterbury as well as operating a busy horse transport business.

"It will work well, because there are times when Ray has to dash away to take horses to the workouts, or truck horses somewhere, at which times I fill the gap. And when I'm away, possibly coaching, Ray is the sole man."

Wilson does not want to become New Zealand's leading harness trainer.

There are many different levels of training. It's like rugby: A coach with the most money can go and get the players he wants, while the coach without the chequebook has to make do with what he's got.

You can still get the same level of thrill and sense of achievement with lesser rugby players and lesser horses. It's a matter of attitude.

The culture of harness racing, its tight, almost cliquey, community, appeals to Wilson.

"I enjoy meeting the people. It's a tough sport and requires a 100 per cent commitment. I don't think many people realise what goes into it.

"I have a lot of admiration for the little pieces of reward some of the smaller people in the industry get."

Shezfullarunning has been trained right through by another mate of Wilson, Canterbury horseman Robbie Holmes. After John Wilson broke the mare in, Jeff Wilson took her through to racing stage before handing her to Holmes and says he has no intention of training the mare himself.

"Robbie has done a great job and he will always have her."

Wilson and his wife, Silver Fern Adine, are about to leave for Europe on a much-delayed honeymoon.

Five weeks ago Wilson underwent ankle surgery and says he is uncertain where his cricketing future lies.

"I told the boys at the end of this cricket season that I would be weighing things up. If my body's telling me that's enough, then that will be it.

"Driving unpredictable young standardbreds is not free of risk. Injury is part of the job description.

"Yeah, there are a few dangers. One day I guess, my ankle will be the least of my worries.