Gay James
The Basics
| Record: | 15 wins |
|---|---|
| Sire: | James |
| Dam: | Gay Lil |
Tags
James-Gay Lil
Trainer L. McLellan Snr
15 wins
Raced 1960-70s
Set a Queensland record when in won 15 straight races in north Queensland in the 1960s (one win was a dead heat). He won 14 of them at Townsville and one at the Cairns Amateurs. Gay James won with up to 64.5kgs. His record was later passed by several horses but most of their wins were on country tracks. He ran a couple of placings in a Brisbane campaign but did not win.
Michael McLellan comments that:
'Gay James was a small compact horse and as his record of 15 straight wins one a deadheat was a greatfeat. His wins started from his first start in a race and I'm sure he would still hold some sort of record.
'At the time they decieded to take him to Brisbane and set for a race at Doomben over 1110 meters. In that race was two horses one, Zepher Bay, the other Johns Hope and they said that he would not head them but he did, only to be caught 50 meters from the finish taking 1.4 seconds off the track record.'
Photo of Gay James with his trainer L McLellan Snr.
Thanks to Geoff Shephard for contributing this photo.