 |
 |
 |
copyright
©
Gary Wild and courtesy
Harness Racing Victoria |
 |
|
Top reinsman Gavin Lang won his first Leading Driver of the Year
Award in 1986 |
 |
Gavin Lang’s first Inter Dominion win – trotter True Roman
sprints across the finishing line at Moonee Valley in 1988
photo courtesy Harness Racing Victoria |
 |
Gavin Lang and Sumthingaboutmaori (far right) battle with
Martina H NZ (Derek Balle) to win the 2004 Trotting
Championship, Moonee Valley..
copyright
©
Gary Wild and courtesy
Harness Racing Victoria |
 |
|
Gavin Lang with the trophy for his
1992 Inter Dominion Consolation win with Imperial Atom NZ |
 |
Game
Bid NZ and Gavin Lang head for the finishing line in front of La
Coocaracha at the 2002 Trotting Championship, Harold Park
copyright
©
Clyde Lett |
 |
Gavin Lang and Robin Hood (No 1) win the 2006 Ballarat Cup
copyright © Gary Wild and courtesy
Harness Racing Victoria |
 |
Family Affair – Gavin (left) pictured
with brother Chris, nephew Chris Jnr and father Graeme before
the quartet clashed for the first time at Bendigo on 30/6/05
photo courtesy Harness Racing Victoria |
 |
Gavin Lang and Robin Hood after their 2007 Victoria Cup victory
copyright © Gary Wild and courtesy
Harness Racing Victoria |
 |
Keppel Bay's win in the 2YO Fillies Australasian Breeders Crown Final made 2 out of 3 Group 1 wins for Gavin Lang at Bendigo 17/8/2008
copyright © Gary Wild and courtesy
Harness Racing Victoria |
 |
Gavin Lang and Captain Joy win the 2009 Victoria Derby at Moonee Valley 7/02/2009
Copyright © Gary Wild |
|
 |
 |
FOUR TIME
AUSTRALIAN LEADING DRIVER
Born in 1958 and reared in a farm life at Romsey on the rural
fringes north west of Melbourne, Gavin Alexander Lang was
destined to become a horseman for how could he be anything else
given his family environment. His father Graeme Alexander
Lang, born in 1933, had taken up harness racing for a vocation
in his youth and by the time Gavin was born his father was
successfully breaking into the industry in Victoria.
As
young boys Gavin and his brother Chris were taught the rudiments
of horse care and training, and were absorbing the quiet
characteristics of their father’s driving skills and tactics at
trials, shows and the race meetings they all attended.
Strong careers followed, confirmed by Gavin’s three Trotting
Grand Final wins in Inter Dominion Championships (1988, 2002,
2004) and his Hall of Fame membership. His excellence in
horsemanship has also been recognized with a record three wins
of the Harness Racing Weekly Vin Knight medal (2003, 2004,
2008).
Although learning to drive from the age of six on
the home track and in impromptu trials, it was not until Gavin
was sixteen that he gained his licence and was allowed to drive.
His first win at a race meeting at Kilmore on 2nd June, 1975 on
Pensive Dream, trained by his father, was followed by a win on
Rebecca Campbell in the Emerald Pace when his father was unable
to drive. Gavin’s first metropolitan winning drive came on
Wilrose on 23rd March 1977 at the Melbourne Showgrounds.
His father’s clients, however, at this stage required Graeme to
drive the Lang Stable horses and Gavin, although gaining some
stable drives, created his own opportunities by travelling to
far country tracks in Victoria in search of extra drives and
experience.
By 1979 Gavin’s seasonal winning total had
reached 31 whilst his father in 1980 reached his pinnacle of
success with 131 1/2 wins to become Australia’s Leading Driver that
season.
During the period leading up to that same
season, Gavin represented Victoria in the 1976, 1977, 1978 and
1980 Australian Young Drivers’ Championships – an indication of
potential future achievements.
In 1982 Gavin’s seasonal
wins totalled 83, and within another two years he had topped the
century for the first time with 117 wins - a feat he has
mastered for twenty four of the following twenty five seasons.
From 1983, except for one season, Gavin has been in the top ten
national standings including four listings as Australia’s
Leading Driver. In 2000 he drove 222 wins for the season -
his best so far.
Gavin is noted for his “ice cool” driving
tactics, seemingly adopting the business axiom of arriving “just
in time”. His driving is noted for judicious and sparing
use of the whip and then only in close finishes if necessary.
His humane driving tactics endear him to owners and trainers
alike for they know that their horses are looked after in races
and are able to back up in following races.
By the end of the 2008/09 season Gavin had totalled 4346 wins and was placed in 6387 races in Australia and New Zealand. From 1975 to end August 2009 Gavin had driven in more than 24,600 races, winning prizemoney in the vicinity of thirty million dollars.
He is a regular driver in all the Grand
Circuit and Classic races throughout Australia and has driven in New Zealand.
His greatest successes have come when driving trotters - his two best being True
Roman, with 60 of that gelding’s 73 wins and earnings of $530,732, and
Sumthingaboutmaori Tr 2:00.9 driving 26 of that mare’s 31 wins and earnings of
$461,499.
True Roman won two heats and the Grand Final of the 1988 Inter
Dominion Trotting Championship and then was unlucky in the 1989 Grand Final when
second after claiming two heats. Sumthingaboutmaori was also an
outstanding competitor in Inter Dominion Trotting Championships, capturing the
Grand Final in 2004.
The Lang family, father Graeme, Gavin and Chris
seem to have an affinity with the Inter Dominion Championships - between them
they have won twenty-seven Heats and Consolations plus six Grand Finals. In fact
it seems that the Lang family has been the bulwark of success in turning back
repetitive New Zealand successes in the Inter Dominion Trotting Championships
with Scotch Notch, Wagon Apollo, True Roman, Game Bid and Sumthingaboutmaori.
Gavin Lang's record shows 15 heats and consolation wins, together with three of the eighteen Grand Finals in which he has driven. Strangely his best performances have been in the Trotters section with three Grand Finals and six heats, whilst in the Pacers section, he is yet to break through to a Grand Final win, although he has won seven heats and two Consolations.
At a lower level Gavin has travelled afar to win races in all Australian States and
New Zealand, and he moves regularly around Victoria driving sometimes at the
rate of four or five meetings a week. Being a “catch driver” he is
regularly engaged by some trainers for a particular horse but many of his drives
are singles for the non-professional trainers who prefer his quiet style of
driving.
The Lang family, although having separate training
establishments, have been a closely knit unit for some thirty years and when
one is injured or suspended the others are utilized for the family trained
horses. Gavin has driven his father’s champions at various times including
Wagon Apollo Tr.1:57.1 and Scotch Notch Tr.1:55.8.
Apart from True Roman and
Sumthingaboutmaori, the best trotters driven by Gavin include Game Bid NZ,
winner of the 2002 Inter Dominion Trotting Championship – when Gavin equalled
his father’s two Grand Final wins - and ID Trotting Championships finalists
Maori’s Glory, Maori’s Dream, Kyvalley Prince, Sparkling Eyes, Euro Ringeat EU,
and Lester Scott.
His ID Pacing Championship finalists include Riverlea Jack, Ataturk, Jagged Account, Persistency, and London Legend. He also drove Yulestar, Grumpy Ole Man, and Rainbow Knight, to heat wins; Imperial Atom NZ was a Consolation winner but won 14 races leading up to the ID Championships. Many other performance horses benefited from his skills too.
Other Performance Horses driven
The season of 2005/06 saw Gavin take on driving Robin Hood P.3,2:00;
4,1:58.1; 1:58. Bred in Queensland by Fake Left USA from Surfer’s Paradise
P.2:00.7 by Vanston Hanover USA and taken to Victoria as a rising two year old,
Robin Hood had 12 wins in his 3 and 4 year old career including 11 in country
areas but only one at Moonee Valley for lifetime earnings of $63,163.
Leading Victorian reinsmen DK Douglas and Brian Gath had been driving the colt,
but the change was made probably when the owners realized that the Inter
Dominion Championship in Hobart in 2006 was within their reach.
Over the ensuing two months Lang drove Robin Hood to wins in the $20,000 Melton
Plate, the $20,000 VHRC Cup, $100,000 Kilmore Cup, $125,000 Ballarat Cup and was
placed third in the $500,000 Miracle Mile. His future for the Hobart Inter
Dominions looked very promising. However, an inexplicable lapse of form
with three unplaced runs in the $300,000 Victoria Cup, $50,000 Moonee Valley Cup
and the $500,000 Hunter Cup put the owners’ Inter Dominion ambitions aside at
least for the Hobart trip. Gavin had some compensation when he won a heat
of the Championships with London Legend NZ, and again finished in the Australian
Top 10 Drivers for 2005/06 with 163 wins.
The pattern of Lang’s career
continued through 2006/07 – with another 173 wins reinforcing his reputation as
a master reinsman. His Group 1 successes included the Australian Oaks (All
Promises), NSW Oaks (Miss Hazel), and Australian Pacing Gold finals - 3yo
fillies (Miss Hazel), 2yo fillies (Kept for Pleasure). His versatility with
different horses was further demonstrated with strong drives in the Inter
Dominion Series (Tribute NZ, Foreal NZ, Robin Hood), but Robin Hood missed the
final placings. In a different context, Lang also volunteered for the Leukaemia
Foundation’s annual World Greatest Shave fundraiser.
He persisted with
Robin Hood through 2007/08, despite the horse needing lengthy spells with
troubled feet (quarter cracks); his reward came with a track record breaking win
in the Victoria Cup (1:57.3) where Lang’s characteristic driving style led him
to bide his time until the home straight to upset Smokin Up and Sting Lika Bee.
As Lang said, “I knew that if he could get a good trip he’d be in the finish”
and it was a double celebration – Robin Hood gained a ballot exemption for the
Inter Dominion semi-final and Lang added the Victoria Cup to his list of winning
achievements.
The Inter Dominion campaign was unsuccessful (January 2008),
but Lang recorded another personal best in early 2008 and set an Australasian record with his 4000th winner.
He went on to score a second Victoria Derby win (Tanabi Bromac) and the Victoria
Oaks (Kept for Pleasure) – this made him the first driver in over thirty years
to claim that double in the same calendar year since Brian Gath in 1977. With an overall count of 11 Group 1 wins in the season, it is understandable that he
is considered Australia’s premier big-race driver. (Refer to Major Races
table below)
A highlight was his three wins from six Group 1 races on Breeders
Crown day at Bendigo (August 2008) with Skyvalley; Keppel Bay, and Captain Joy.
Again, his skills with both trotting and pacing gaits were on display, and his
comment “It’s a great finish to one of my most memorable seasons” summed up the
result. Further success came with the Tabcorp Driving Performance of the Year award (Robin Hood – Victoria Cup) and scoring a second Australian Pacing Gold victory (Esprit De Kayjay). Overall, he recorded a milestone 59 metropolitan wins in the season, and claimed his maiden State metropolitan drivers' championship.
A slow start to season 2008/09 due to a mystery illness improved pre-Christmas when a winning double at Kilmore (December) provided a belated 50th birthday present. The Inter Dominion Trotting championship soon followed, with early success in qualifying two of his regular drives for the final – Save A Sixpence and Skyvalley, but brother Chris took line honours with Sundons Gift in the final. A major place finish also eluded him in the Inter Dominion Pacing championship final, when he drove the early favourite Auckland Reactor, “a very special animal”, after regular driver/trainer Mark Purdon was suspended.
Nevertheless, outstanding results with Captain Joy were some compensation – this young son of Mach Three captured four Group One races among ten straight wins with Lang in a six months' period. These included the Victorian, Queensland and New South Wales Derbies and the NSW Breeders 3YO Colts & Geldings final – outstanding performances that led to two national awards – 3YO of the Year, plus 3YO Colt/Gelding pacer. Overall, Gavin's 169 wins from 807 races in his home state brought another top three finish in the 2008/09 Victorian State Drivers' premiership with over $1.53m in prizemoney, and he secured his second Victorian Metropolitan Driver's title in a last minute narrow margin from Chris Alford, again demonstrating his driving ability and consistency of performance.
Gavin Lang has an enviable reputation in the industry, and has won many honours
including the national J.D. Watts award for Leading Driver four times
(1992,1991, 1988, 1986). His widespread popularity is evidenced by a recent vote
as Australia’s top reinsman in reader polls on the industry website, and he looks set to continue towards further success in 2009/10 and beyond.
Other performance horses driven:
Perhaps the first best horses of his younger days were Copper Leopard, winner of
eleven races, followed by Marching Order Tr.-16 races, Our Real Force Tr, Young
Trouper Tr, Crystal Sunset Tr-11 races, Sparkling Eyes Tr.-11 races, Exemplify
Tr-14 races, Andandon Tr- 16 races, Poet’s Corner Tr. His best pacers
included Franco Tiger P-21 races, Hokum P-15 races, Black Duke NZ P-20 races,
Bronsky Beat P-19 races, Aim First P-17 races, Persistency P-23 races.
Other well known pacers which he drove at various times, included Lombo
Skyrider, Mont Denver Gold, Manifold Bay, Sassy Sarah, Mister Roberts, Iraklis,
Northern Brewer, Newsbreaker, Denver Gift, Golden Reign, Hyperstat, Provocative,
Vanderport, Another Bart, Low Man, Sentinel, Table Card Tr., Our Navy Lady,
Voight, Johnny Aigar, Lee Vegas, Aberdeen, Floreat, Innocent Eyes, Alabama’s
Idol Tr., and many of the Myrniong named horses.
MAJOR GRAND CIRCUIT OR GROUP RACES
DRIVEN BY
GAVIN LANG |
|
INTER DOMINION TROTTERS CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL |
Sumthingaboutmaori (2004)
Game Bid NZ (2002)
True Roman (1988) |
|
INTER DOMINION CONSOLATION |
-PACERS
-TROTTERS |
Imperial Atom NZ (1992)
Jazz Legend NZ (2008) |
|
INTER DOMINION CHAMPTIONSHIP HEATS |
-PACERS
-TROTTERS |
Tribute NZ (2007)
Robin Hood (2007)
Jagged
Account (2005)
Grumpy Ole Man (2000)
Yulestar
NZ (2000)
Rainbow Knight (1998)
Riverlea Jack
(1989)
Sumthingaboutmaori (2004)
Maoris Glory
(1992)
True Roman (1988 x 2, 1989 x 2) |
|
For Gavin Lang's Major Australian Race Wins – click here |
| race footage |
 |
2004 Trotting Final
Race footage courtesy Harness
Racing Victoria and Provideo |
|
|
2002 Trotting Final
Race footage courtesy NSW
Harness Racing Club |
|
|
1988 Trotting Final
Race footage courtesy Harness Racing Victoria and Provideo |
|
|
