Damian Lane leads star-studded inductees into WA Racing Hall of Fame

Superstar jockey Damian Lane – who has gone from his WA hometown of Bunbury to conquer the world – will headline this year’s star-studded list of inductees into the WA Racing Hall of Fame.

The globetrotting gun will be inducted alongside legendary jockey and thoroughbred trainer Reg Treffone, champion stallion and 1971 Caulfield Guineas winner Beau Sovereign and renowned Chairman of Stewards Jack Marks at a gala ceremony at Crown Perth’s Austral Ballroom on August 23.

Racing and Wagering Western Australia CEO Ian Edwards said the combined contribution of the four latest inductees represented the key pillars of WA racing.

“This year’s inductees have each achieved great success in their fields and reflect the qualities that make our racing industry special – talent, commitment and integrity,” Ian said.

“Their impact reaches far beyond the racetrack and they have continued to build on what is a rich history of horseracing in our State.”

Lane – known widely as “Frosty” because of his unflappable cold-as-ice demeanour in the saddle – has already compiled a storied career at the age of just 31. He took his first mount on the red dirt of Roebourne in WA’s Pilbara region in 2009 and rode his first winner at Port Hedland just a week later.

His life in racing seemed a natural progression from an early age, with his immediate family already deeply rooted in the industry. Lane’s father Michael was himself a gun jockey and is now one of the State’s leading trainers. His mother Vicki was also a trainer.

Lane claimed his first Group 1 title aboard Trust In A Gust in the 2014 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield. But it was a whirlwind 2019 season that stamped him as one of the nation’s best big-race riders when he won the Caulfield Cup with Mer De Glace, the Golden Slipper Stakes with Kiamichi and the Cox Plate with Lys Gracieux.

He also rode 78 winners in Japan in a two-season stint in 2019 and 2020 and went on to become the first jockey from the Southern Hemisphere to win a Japanese classic race in 2023 when he won the Japanese Derby with Tastiera.

Treffone was widely known for his meticulous approach towards training his gallopers. One of the main headline acts under his guidance was turf star Aquanita, the 1959 Railway Stakes winner who was later inducted into both the Australian and WA Racing Halls of Fame.

Treffone had particular training success in his Kalgoorlie hometown, claiming an impressive four Kalgoorlie Cups during his glittering career.

He also had a successful career as a jockey, riding regularly against his older brother Eric. In 1938, Eric won the WA leading jockey title, while Reg claimed the apprentices’ premiership. Reg also won the 1947 West Australian Derby on the appropriately named Westralia. 

A star on and off the track, Beau Sovereign stood tall as a stallion at Glenn and Kathy Money’s Coral Park Stud at North Dandalup during a golden era of WA breeding.

In the 1981-82 season, he was the State’s leading sire on prizemoney ($437,995). The son of sire-of-sires Sovereign Edition’s first crop produced a remarkable 19 winners and two place-getters from 22 foals to race.

Before his legendary stud career, Beau Sovereign won Victoria’s premier spring three-year-old race in 1971, beating Tolerance and Trifling in the Caulfield Guineas – the race known for being a stallion-maker. He looked poised to emerge as a champion before injury ended his racing career that gleaned six wins, two seconds and two thirds from just 14 starts.

His progeny, including star WA sprinter Asian Beau, won big races around Australia and he became widely known as one of WA’s leading broodmare stallions.

Born into a well-known Fremantle racing family, Jack Marks trained thoroughbreds before becoming a steward with the WA Turf Club in late 1946. He was later promoted to Chairman of Stewards in 1950 and in spite of ill health from 1967, chaired the stewards’ panel until 1969.

He remained part of the stewards’ panel until 1972 and died four years later, leaving a lasting integrity mark in WA racing.

Marks was a master at reading the play before a race and the riding tactics employed in a race. He was widely known for being fair to industry participants and was noted for giving a warning to those who erred before he took any action of suspension or disqualification.

He had a complete understanding of the racing industry, understood people and possessed emotional intelligence.