Tara and Donald Harper. Photo Credit- Northam Harness Racing Club
Donald Harper has always had his fair share of success with the babies, but on Tuesday night at Gloucester Park, Harper prepared three of the six runners engaged in the first, the two-year-old fillies’ pace over the 1730m, with Quartzz winning first up and Quattrose running second at her first start, giving the Harper team the quinella.
A breaker, educator, trainer and driver, there isn’t much that Donald Harper hasn’t tried his hand at, but it doesn’t end there in a normal day for the 33-year-old, with Harper an accomplished at farrier as well.
Starting his day at 5am, Harper alongside with his wife Tara and their three staff, they get to work early feeding the team of 16 horses, working the horses all the way through to lunch time, before Harper sets off for the afternoon either shoeing horses with fellow farrier Craig Hynam, or heading to the races with his own team or freelance driving across the state.
“We work the racehorses, then the breakers, then do a beach trip in the morning. Tara and the kids feed up every night.” Harper said.
If the daily routine of horses wasn’t enough, Donald and Tara have their two young sons Logan and Harvey to tend to as well, with Tara making sure she gets the boys ready for school before heading out in the morning. The two of them have their routines down pat, with Tara in charge of all the groundwork and mouthing of the breakers, making sure they’re sensible enough to go in the cart before Donald takes over.
“I get the boys fed and ready for school first, they are harder to get organised than doing the breakers some days,”
“I grew up doing the breakers with Dad who was a master he taught me everything I know, which I am truly grateful for, so my love for the young ones is very strong and they are what I get most enjoyment out of.”
Tara Harper is the daughter of Bob Sweet who passed away just last year at age 90, who was both a gentleman on and off the track, as well as a great horseman.
Tara Harper has a passion for youngsters, confirming that she gets a real kick out of watching the horses go through their stages, getting ready for trials and race.
“I don’t track work or jog them anymore, I just do the groundwork and the babies,”
Working with your spouse would be a challenge in itself, but when horses are involved it adds another level of difficulty, with differing opinions often a point of contention.
“Working with Tara is good and bad; we agree on about 50% of things.”
Harper expects his team to expand to 25 horses by the end of the month,
Harper made his debut as a reinsman in the 2003/04 season and has driven in a total of 5051 races for 316 wins and 863 placings, with career highlights with his runner Hayton Brain NZ in 2007 and 2008 when he took out the Group 2 Celebrity Sprint and Mount Eden Sprint, as well as the Group 3 Parliamentarians Cup and the FHRC Members Sprint in concurrent years.
Harper didn’t wait long before getting his trainers licence during the 2006/07 season and has since trained 1777 starters for 151 winner and 340 placings.
“Donald is such a hard worker. I must admit I don’t know many who would work as hard as he does. In between working our own horses and going to most meetings which includes either driving or taking our own horses to the trots, he also shoes for a few different stables,”
“His days are hectic, but he just pushes on and it does not matter how tired he is after a full day’s work, he always finds time to play with the boys,”
“The time and effort that Donald puts into this industry just shows the love he really has for the game. Not only does he do all of the above, but he has recently become the president of BOTRA and puts time and effort into that and is trying to get new members on board,”
“He is a wonderful horseman, and we make a great team 50% of the time.” Tara hit back.
Ashleigh Paikos