Rocky goat racer gets place at cup
FOR 12-year-old Rockhampton jockey Troy Richardson and his champion racing goat One Time, it was oh, so close.
At the John deGroot Australian Goat Racing cup in Barcaldine, they came second after rival goat Patches O'Hoolihan put in a record-setting run.
But despite missing the win this year, Troy was still very proud of his almost-champion goat.
"One Time ended up getting second, so that's pretty good," he said.
Troy said his family owned and raced many goats but on the day, One Time stood out from the rest of the herd.
"We've got some (other) pretty good goats but in the end he was the one," he said.
To breed such a fine racing goat like One Time you'd think there was a special age-old method of training, but Troy said it was just a case of pick 'em out and give 'em a run.
"It's just getting a random goat and training it up, putting a cart on it and just giving it a go."
Although Troy admitted One Time wasn't the biggest, baddest looking racing goat, he was confident what his goat lacked in physical bulk he made up in spirit.
"He's not very big but he's all right," he said.
The cup is held annually and spokeswoman for the event, Jo Martin, said the race day was a very prestigious event.
"It's like the Melbourne Cup of goat racing," she said.
