Pint-sized black Royal Force was purchased by Wagin farmers George and John Kennett at a 1970 Melbourne clearance sale for just $2100.
They bought him sight unseen, or they might not have taken the lightly built colt. However, he was a son of Johnny Globe, with whose progeny the Kennetts had previous success and even though the sire was now 22 and out of fashion – and the dam, Coincident, was nothing special – they were happy to take the risk.
George Kennett also took on the horse’s training but, after six unproductive race starts, might have been doubting the wisdom of the decision to buy him. Then everything changed.
In a lowly three-year-old maiden at the outer provincial circuit of Williams – with unheralded driver Colin Ball in the cart – Royal Force broke through for his debut win and the confidence gained worked wonders with him. At Gloucester Park at his next run, he unleashed a paralysing burst from well back in the field to land a significant betting move, with the renowned Jack Retzlaff in the sulky. Plunged from 33/1 into 10/1, the colt flashed home to beat odds-on favourite Parking, demonstrating a racing technique that was to become his trademark and make him famous.
A little over a month later Royal Force won the WA Derby in great style, then the Sires Produce Stakes as well. Unfortunately, the horse missed most of his four-year-old season due to injury but resumed at five with a stunning last-to-first victory in a heat of the WA Pacing Cup.
In the final he was a desperately unlucky fourth behind NSW star Just Too Good, when blocked for clear running. Royal Force won twice more that season and, at six, snared two more heats of the Pacing Cup. He was driven by Jack Retzlaff in one division and by Dudley ‘Boof’ Anderson in the other, a man as well known for his farrier skills as for his impressive training and driving CV.
Again unplaced in the final, with Retzlaff in the bike, Royal Force would thereafter be reined only by Anderson in WA and the pair would quickly get back in the winners’ circle in the 1976 New Year Handicap.
That performance inspired the Kennetts to start the horse in the Adelaide Inter Dominions but, after a third in the opening heats, Anderson was suspended for pushing out.
WA reinsman Les ‘The Rifleman’ Marriott then won a heat with Royal Force, before running fifth in the final behind Carclew. Continuing east to Victoria, Royal Force won the Marathon Handicap at Moonee Valley with driver Bill Le Sueur steering him to his toughest success, after racing without cover.
At seven, Royal Force did not make the final of the WA Pacing Cup but later recorded a devastating fast-finishing victory in the Fremantle Cup, in which he was cleverly reined by Boof Anderson off the 20-metre handicap.
With that win, Royal Force’s earnings passed $100,000, a milestone which only the Russell Roberts pair of James Eden and Pure Steel had previously eclipsed in WA.
Heading back to Melbourne, Anderson and RoyaL Force set a national mile record, which earned the pacer a shot at Sydney’s Miracle Mile, but not before a superb third in the AG Hunter Cup to pacing legends Pure Steel and Paleface Adios.
In the Miracle Mile, Royal Force had a good run and swept clear in the Harold Park straight, joining the ranks of the elite with his defeat of Paleface Adios and with the likes of Pure Steel and Markovina also in his wake.
Royal Force then beat Markovina again in a Sydney Lord Mayor’s Cup heat, before finishing third to the great Victorian in the final.
After the 1977 Inters in Brisbane, Royal Force was sidelined for another injury-plagued year but came back as a nine-year-old to claim two heats of the 1978 WA Cup – in one of them letting loose his now-famous sprint to lip out Pure Steel by a nose, when Steelo was a 7/2 on chance. The champion black then ran a brave third in the final to Pure Steel and Inters champ Koala King.
Soon after Royal Force retired, with 27 fabulous wins to his credit. Royal Force, powerhouse pony of the Seventies, now made immortal in the WA Racing Industry’s Hall of Fame.
Breeder: B H Daff, A I Daff Owner: George Kennett, John Kennett Trainer: George Kennett Career Record: 110 Starts, 27 Wins, 17 Seconds, 15 Thirds
FIRST PLACE: 6 Jan 73 Williams Track, 20 Jan 73 GP Track, 29 Jan 73 GP Track, 3 Mar 73 3YO WA Derby, 17 Mar 73 ht Sires Produce, 24 Mar 73 3YO WA Sires Produce, 24 Nov 73 GP Track, 27 Jan 74 Ht Summer Pace, 13 Dec 74 Ht WA Pacing Cup 27 Jun 75 GP Track, 18 Jul 75 FFA, 28 Nov 75 GP Track, 5 Dec 75 Richmond Track, 12 Dec 75 Ht WA Pacing Cup, 26 Dec 75 Ht WA Pacing Cup 9 Jan 76 New Year Handicap, 11 Feb 76 Ht Inter Dominion, 27 Mar 76 VIC Marathon, 18 Jun 76 Richmond Track, 7 Jan 77 Cons WA Pacing Cup, 21 Jan 77 GP Track, 28 Jan 77 Fremantle Cup, 12 Feb 77 FFA 1:57.0 Aust Record, 11 Mar 77 NSW Miracle Mile, 25 Mar 77 Ht NSW Lord Mayors Cup, 22 Dec 78 ht WA Pacing Cup, 29 Dec 78 Ht WA Pacing Cup.