“You’d be surprised how many times the clerk short-circuits a disaster.”
During his 40 years as a clerk of the course, Bill Atkinson was deadly serious about his responsibilities, about proper preparation and about the importance of his role.
Two knee operations last year finally brought down the curtain on his passion, which took in both thoroughbred racing and trots. For the former, he worked at all the northern SA tracks, including Port Augusta, Clare, Roxby Downs, Hawker, Whyalla, Port Pirie and Jamestown.
Through all those race days, Bill maintained a laser-like focus on his main mission:
“Get them out safely and get them back safely,” he said.
“That’s what it’s all about.”
Some rodeo experience and his family’s involvement with trots led Bill into the industry as a teenager and his subsequent love of clerking has him well-placed to outline key parts of the often unseen – but vitally important – job, such as nipping potential problems in the bud.
“You’ve obviously got to be a good horseperson,” he said.
“But the other thing is we tend to be able to read if something’s going to go bad before it goes bad.
“You can sort of pick up on a horse’s attitude, or a rider’s body language if… the horse is a bit agitated.
“You need to short circuit any issues; just dive in there and grab hold of the horse and lead them out… until everything settles.”
Bill lives at Warnertown, just outside of Port Pirie, and has held various full-time jobs over the years, including boilermaker-welder, milkman and currently farrier. The 59-year-old struggles to fully explain his passion for clerking.
“I’ve loved the people, the horses and the riders,” he said.
“At many meetings there was a new young rider to help and over the years, most of them had their first rides at places like Port Augusta, or Roxby Downs or Jamestown.
“I would always grab that first-time rider and lead them out, to get to the start safely, because they are always nervous.
“I guess it’s just been a passion and a thrill.”
Fellow clerk of the course Jenny Reschke has been filling the role at Port Augusta – including last Sunday – for the past 31 years and knows Bill’s strengths better than most.
“He’s a very good horseman,” she said.
“He’s done a lot of handling of his own horses and brought them all along. He did show jumping when he was younger, and brought up all his kids doing show jumping at Pony Club…
“He was always very fair, very helpful, very kind and knew exactly what he was doing.”
While praise might sit uncomfortably with Bill, he finds it easy to build a tribute to every clerk’s best friend, the horse.
“That animal has to be really special,” he said.
“They have to be able to work alongside another horse and get bumped, pushed and knocked around and not react.
“You can’t have a horse that’ll kick or bite, because you might be leading out a $400,000 yearling that’s now a two-year-old and is going out for its first race.
“So if your pony gives it a kick, whoa. You just can’t have those things.
“And also the clerking horse has to have the ability to gallop fast and pick up a loose horse or a rider that’s having troubles, then be able to come to a walk or trot, then just chill out and go back to normal working procedures.
“They’ll never be as fit as a racehorse and they’ll never be able to gallop as fast as a racehorse, so if one gets away we have to use our brains a little bit and cut them off at the pass, get the jump on them, and pick them up.
“Or if there are two of us, one of us will use the other as a block.”
When Bill worked a regulation day at Clare in 2019, during pre-COVID times, he was unaware it would be his final meeting as a clerk. He said retirement has proven bittersweet.
“I miss the thrill of it and I certainly miss working with the horses and the people, and everyone involved,” he said.
“But if I was working at Clare on Easter Saturday, for example, I would’ve spent all day Good Friday getting the float cleaned up, getting the horse washed and cleaned up, getting the saddlery all organised, and getting myself organised.
“So that’s a full day Friday preparing, then I would’ve left 9am Saturday morning, and worked at the races all day.
“Then I would’ve spent most of Sunday unloading, putting stuff away, and that sort of stuff.
“So it was a three-day thing for me, because we had to be perfect.
“It took up so much time and that’s the bit I don’t miss.”
IMAGE: Bill Atkinson (right) leading out Sairyn Fawke at Port Augusta in 2019.
