HE spends his day tending to the course at Taree’s Bushland Drive Racetrack. Now 23-year-old Sam Murray gets the opportunity to go behind the scenes on the biggest show in Australian thoroughbred racing – Melbourne Cup week.
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Sam is in his third year as turf management apprentice at Bushland Drive, where his boss is the highly regarded Scott Olson.
Late last month Sam was announced as the winner of the Australia-wide Anco racetrack experience award for apprentices at a racecourse managers’ conference held in Brisbane.
The prize is a week in Melbourne working with Mick Goody, the racecourse manager at Flemington. Sam will be there for the glamour meetings on the Australian racing calendar – Derby Day, Melbourne Cup Day followed by the Oaks Day meeting on the Thursday and the Saturday meeting.
He’ll attend the early morning trackwork sessions and see first hand what goes into preparing Flemington for the meetings. He’ll also be on-course during races for ongoing maintenance during the day in front of the 100,000 plus patrons who will flock to Flemington.
“I can’t wait – it’s going to be unreal,’’ Sam smiled.
He hasn’t been to the Melbourne Cup although it was on his bucket list. However, Sam admits the initial idea was to be on the other side of the fence enjoying the social aspects of the day and having a punt, not worrying about the state of the track.
Sam was in Brisbane for the conference when he was announced as the winner. He was nominated by Scott Olson, the award based on a number of aspects including results and work ethic.
“I was over the moon when they announced my name,’’ he said.
Sam pays tribute to Scott, who he describes as ‘a great boss.’
“I’ve learnt a lot from him,’’ he said.
In an interview with the Times before last year’s Taree Cup Carnival Scott was equally as enthusiastic about his apprentice.
"I was on the panel that conducted the interviews for the job,'' he said.
"We had a good response - we had 20 interviews. Sam was the standout.
"He's the best apprentice I've had - he has a big future.
He has a passion for racing.''
Sam admits he wasn’t too confident when he applied for the position. While he’s from a racing family, he hadn’t given much thought about working in the industry.
“I kind of feel into it,’’ he said.
“But once I started, I just loved it.’’
One day he’d like to be the manager at one of the major tracks in Australia or even overseas.
“But I’m just happy to see where the job takes me,’’ he added.
Taree-Wingham was the first club in the State to take on an apprentice. This was the impetus for Racing NSW to start a scheme to employ more apprentices around this State.
Taree-Wingham Race Club chairman Greg Coleman congratulated Sam on his achievement.
“He’s a dedicated to his job,’’ Mr Coleman said.
“We’re very proud of him.’’
