Prolific Sydney trainer, Jack Denham, passed away on Sunday aged 85 after a long, successful and often mysterious career in the racing industry that spanned more than half a century.
Denham began as a jockey in 1943 but moved to training instead of riding the animals he was so passionate about a few years later, taking out his trainer’s license in 1948, which proved a very lucrative decision as he went on to train over 3000 winners.
Over his 54 years as a trainer, Denham prepared 59 Group 1 winners. His first was Persian Link in the 1955 Doomben Cup while his final Group 1 success came in the Randwick Guineas this year with Metal Bender.
But it is the 1997 Caulfield – Melbourne Cup double winner, Might And Power, who will be remembered as Denham’s greatest horse. The mighty turf-champion recently installed into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame along with his trainer.
A man who shunned the media and therefore remained relatively unknown to the wider public despite his impressive feats, Denham took out the Sydney trainer’s premiership twice and will go down as one of the superstars of the turf.
