About this episode
It’s been a pleasure to welcome a sequence of popular country trainers to the podcast lately and we’re going “bush” again in our first interview for 2026. Our guest is respected horseman Paddy Cunningham who’s currently the only trainer based at the Glen Innes racecourse in the NSW New England district. He and wife Kathy achieve consistent results with a team of just twelve horses, and are happy to travel long distances to find the right races for them. Paddy Cunningham put together a tidy record as a race rider before ongoing weight problems saw him transition to the training ranks. After two lengthy stints at Grafton and another at Caloundra, Cunningham returned to his native Glen Innes in 2016 and you’d need the army to shift him again. Paddy talks about the well appointed property he and Kathy share close to the Glen Innes track.
He looks back on his early days at Ben Lomond, a unique little village situated so far above sea level that snow isn’t uncommon in the winter months.
Paddy talks of his parents and siblings and the little pony that first introduced him to the sensation of speed on horseback.
He looks back on the circumstances that led him to an apprenticeship with local trainer Hunter Kilner and the unforgettable thrill of his very first day of race riding at an Inverell meeting. He made a spectacular start.
Paddy talks of consecutive Armidale Cup wins very early in his career.
The jockey turned trainer says he quickly tired of continual wasting and ventured to the Northern Territory in search of a complete change of environment. He found employment at the famous Wave Hill station.
Paddy talks of his return to Glen Innes after a two year sabbatical and a resumption of trackwork duties for his old boss Hunter Kilner.
He talks of the mare who regenerated his interest and motivated his return to race riding. The same mare would later provide his first winning ride at Royal Randwick.
Paddy says he couldn’t believe his luck when another winner came along at Canterbury the very next day. Two weeks later the same horse was involved in a spectacular fall at Canterbury. Paddy was lucky to escape serious injury.
He remembers a wild ride he had on a Grafton Cup day in the 1970’s. Despite doing everything wrong the horse in question was able to score an amazing win.
Paddy talks about “the one that got away”. He regarded a horse called Final Say as the best he’d ever ridden and was bitterly disappointed when the gelding went amiss.
He says unstable weight eventually hastened his retirement from race riding but has never regretted his brief but exciting few years in the saddle.
Paddy unhesitatingly nominated the country jockey who inspired him the most.
He looks back on the low key beginning to his training career. Surprisingly he can’t remember his first win as a solo trainer.
Cunningham talks of his training career to date- two stints at Gr
